A man in Umerkot built his own replica of the Taj Mahal. So who’s the lucky lady that inspired a Sindh native to built the monument? Abdul Rasool Pali was actually inspired to build his own Taj Mahal after falling in love with the real Mughal monument.
The Taj Mahal is widely acknowledged as a monument of love. Built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, it is a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz Begum. The monument built by Crown Prince Shahabuddin Mohammad Shah Jahan has been the subject of many ballads, poems, and films.
400 years later, it even inspired a landlord-cum-lawyer in Umerkot to replicate the monument 800km away.
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BBC shared, Abdul Rasool Pali is already famed in the village of Dhibo, district Umerkot for building the village cemetery. Now he’s making waves globally with his recreation of the Taj Mahal.
The 65-year-old is the largest landowner in the area, with 9,000 acres of land to his name. He fell in love with the Mughal monument on the Jumna River back in 1980 on his first visit to India.
He employed a mason that built mosques for the task, Sher Muhammad.
Abdul Rasool and Sher Muhammad mapped the building in their minds to build a small Taj Mahal 20 feet high and 18 feet wide.
His Own Love Story
Abdul Rasool Pali himself married young at the age of 18. His wife Maryam was 40 years old at the time. Despite the age difference between the two, their ‘arranged marriage’ turned into ‘love marriage’ in a few days.
Abdul Rasool still recalls the delicious taste of his wife’s cooking. He recalled how they would eat in restaurants and watch movies at the theatre together.
The couple used to travel together. In Hyderabad, he used to visit Rani Bagh and Jamshoro. After 40 years of marriage, his wife died of a stroke in 2015.
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The death of his beloved Maryam just made Abdul Rasool more adamant to built the monument despite voices of the opposition calling it a waste.
Six months and Rs. 1.3 million went into the tribute of love. The senior citizen spends most of his time there reminiscing the days he spent with his wife.
Shah Jahan’s Taj Mahal is one of the greatest wonders of the world. However, in terms of spirit Abdul Rasool Pali’s ‘Mini Taj Mahal’ is no less touching if not more loaded with sentiment.
The site has now become a local ‘tourist attraction’ of Umerkot.
