Taj-Mahal Ghazal By Sahir Ludhianvi تاج تیرے لیے اک مظہر الفت ہی سہی ساحر لدھیانوی

Taj Mahal is portrayed as a symbol of beauty and love, but Shair interprets it in a different perspective. He talks about the poor workers who constructed this beautiful palace. I love the universality of human emotions of love contrasted against the unbalanced distribution of wealth in this world. The wealthy and powerful enjoy at the expense of poor people. I love the repetition:
“Even so, my love, let us meet someplace else.”
The primary emotion is not the hatred against the structure, but rather aggression at society’s contradiction. The ironic tone makes this poem beautiful. The poet mocks the tomb when he says love is doomed forever under this mausoleum.
English Translation:
For you, my love, the Taj
may well be the quintessence
of ardour; while full well
may you regard
this exquisite vale. Even so,
dear one, let us meet
someplace else.
What worth, these lowly ones,
loitering in the halls of the lords,
where on every path lie etched
remains of pomp and glory?
What worth then, the passing
of lovelorn souls?
My love, behind the veils
of love’s proud proclamations,
did you see the signs
of imperious grandeur?
You, who revel
in mausoleums of dead kings,
did you not heed the dark hovels
that fostered us?
Beyond count are those, in this world
who have lived and loved.
Could anyone deny the truth
of their passions?
But they, like us, stay destitute,
without the means
to erect monuments to their love.
These edifices, these tombs,
these battlements, these forts,
haughty relics
of the conceit of emperors
are left behind like resilient creepers
on the face of the world,
seeped in the blood
of our forefathers.
My love, those artful hands
who created this beauty
would have lived
and loved too; but their lovers
are long gone, nameless,
without a trace.
To this day, no one has lit
a candle in their memory.
The lush gardens and palaces,
the Yamuna’s edge;
the exquisitely carved portals,
the arches and niches,
the handiwork of the one
emperor who, buttress’d
by infinite wealth
has mocked our very love,
our impoverish’d, destitute love.
Even so, my love,
let us meet
someplace else.
Urdu Text:
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