A lovestruck school teacher from Madhya Pradesh has emulated the world's most famous display of marital devotion by building for his wife a replica of the Taj Mahal.
This structure, a four-bedroom "house", is Anand Prakash Chouksey's gift to his spouse, Manjusha, who is also a teacher.
Building his new home has taken Chouksey three years – a dozen less than the mausoleum that inspired it.
It is about one-third the size of the original monument and also includes a 29-foot high dome. It is built with marble from Makrana, which is the same that was used to build the Taj Mahal.
"My wife's only demand was for a meditation room. She's a spiritual woman," the 52-year-old was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.
“She says the dome creates a different environment and there is a lot of positive energy," he added.
Chouksey now plans to mount an Indian flag on top of the main dome and add symbols from India's most popular religions to the four minarets surrounding his new manor.
“We want to send a message of peace and religious harmony. There is a lot of hate around. Love solves all problems in life and Taj Mahal is a symbol of that," he said.
The original "Monument to Love" – one of the seven wonders of the world – was constructed on the orders of heartbroken Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz, in the 17th century.
Dubbed a "teardrop on the cheek of time" by writer Rabindranath Tagore – it stands tall in Agra.
But the new replica is 800 kilometres (500 miles) away from the national capital in Burhanpur.
The key thing to note here is, however, that the central Indian city is none other than the place where Mumtaz died while giving birth to her 14th child in June 1632, having accompanied Shah Jahan to quell a local revolt.
Mumtaz's body was even initially buried there too, and according to locals Shah Jahan had at first wanted to build the Taj Mahal for her on the banks of the river Tapti.
"The soil structure back then was not suitable to build the Taj here that's how it was decided to be built in Agra," Chouksey explained.
The city is still home to the dilapidated remains of the palace where the royals lived, including a once-beautiful hammam or bathhouse built by Shah Jahan for his wife to relax in before she died.
With inputs from agencies.
