Mughal prince drags ASI in court
Vijay Upadhyay
Agra. The Taj Mahal is probably the only historical building in the world which attracts an inestimable number of disputes every year.
Shortly after historians raised objections on the use of mud pack on the monument for its cleaning, a descendant of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadurshah Zafar has filed a suit in an Agra court against the Archaeological Survey of India for promoting numerous self-styled committees for holding 'Urs' of Shahjahan at the Taj. The descendant claims that Shahjahan was not a 'sufi saint' and he had not left any indications in his will for such a grand annual Urs to be held at his tomb.
Condemning the interference of numerous 'self-styled' Urs committees at the Taj, Prince Yakub Habibuddin Tucy, who purports to be the great grandson of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, has requested the court to pass an immediate injunction against such committees, claiming that these committees and their office-bearers are busy extorting money from the visitors at the Taj in the name of Shahjahan, while conducting un-Islamic activities like dance and music inside the monument.
According to Tucy, Shahjahan was not a sufi saint and his soul will only find peace when his family members offered flowers on his grave but instead, these so-called 'Urs committees' had made the annual urs of the emperor as a grand event, cashing in on the international popularity of the monument.
Tucy claimed that upon his visit to the Taj during the Urs this year, he was surprised to see several donation boxes kept inside the Taj Mahal and eatables being carried inside the sanctorum of the monument, which was highly irregular. Besides, he said, hundreds of persons were offering 200 ft chadars and more on the grave of the emperor, which is uncalled for and appeared too pompous and inappropriate as a grave hardly needs a chadar of more than 10 ft length.
Shortly after historians raised objections on the use of mud pack on the monument for its cleaning, a descendant of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadurshah Zafar has filed a suit in an Agra court against the Archaeological Survey of India for promoting numerous self-styled committees for holding 'Urs' of Shahjahan at the Taj. The descendant claims that Shahjahan was not a 'sufi saint' and he had not left any indications in his will for such a grand annual Urs to be held at his tomb.
Condemning the interference of numerous 'self-styled' Urs committees at the Taj, Prince Yakub Habibuddin Tucy, who purports to be the great grandson of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, has requested the court to pass an immediate injunction against such committees, claiming that these committees and their office-bearers are busy extorting money from the visitors at the Taj in the name of Shahjahan, while conducting un-Islamic activities like dance and music inside the monument.
According to Tucy, Shahjahan was not a sufi saint and his soul will only find peace when his family members offered flowers on his grave but instead, these so-called 'Urs committees' had made the annual urs of the emperor as a grand event, cashing in on the international popularity of the monument.
Tucy claimed that upon his visit to the Taj during the Urs this year, he was surprised to see several donation boxes kept inside the Taj Mahal and eatables being carried inside the sanctorum of the monument, which was highly irregular. Besides, he said, hundreds of persons were offering 200 ft chadars and more on the grave of the emperor, which is uncalled for and appeared too pompous and inappropriate as a grave hardly needs a chadar of more than 10 ft length.
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