A SYMBOL OF OUR LOVE

To show his wife how much he adores her, an Indian businessman has turned their home into a replica of the Taj Mahal

- LESEGO MKHIZE

IT’S a monument to love, an edifice of affection, and one of the Seven Wonders of the World. For centuries the Taj Mahal has stood as a reminder of one man’s devotion to his beloved wife.

And it’s inspired Anand Prakash Chouksey to recreate it as a “symbol of his love” for his much-loved spouse.

Anand, who’s from Burhanpur, India, had the famous building replicated from scratch to show his wife, Manjusha Shah (48), just how much he adores her.

He was inspired by the original Taj Mahal, which was built as a tomb in the 17th century by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in child labour.

The 52-year-old teacher, who heads up an academy with his wife, commissioned artisans, architects and engineers who spent three years helping him to build the intricate domed replica.

“When it was time to build a new house I thought, ‘Why not do something different?’,” Anand says. “Every man loves his family and wife more than anything else, so I made it a gift to my wife.”

Anand’s version of the Taj Mahal is a dazzling white marble structure that’s 18m tall and takes up about a third as much space as the 73-metre tall original structure.

The cost is estimated at $260 000 (R4 million) and parts were demolished and rebuilt a few times to get it just right.

“I wanted to make a unique house in a small town,” Anand says.