Note 228 — Chapter X
Reading edition
That marvelous structure known as the Taj Mahal—India's noblest tribute to the grace and goodness of Indian womanhood—is sometimes said to be a monument to the memory of Nur Mahal. This is not the case. This matchless gem of architecture—
" ... The proud passion of an emperor's love Wrought into living stone, which gleams and soars With body of beauty shrining soul and thought."
is a monument to Nur Mahal's niece and successor as empress, Mumtaz-Mahal—The Crown of the Palace—who, like her aunt, was a woman of rare beauty and talent and endeared herself to her people by her splendid qualities of mind and heart.