Taj Mahal

When great historians write about the past,
They know they must rise above the facts;
Facts are often petty impediments
To the grand vision they wish to enact.

Thus years ago it was boldly writ
In a journal called the Hindu Vishwa,
That Jerusalem was actually Yedushalyam,
Abode of the mighty Yadava

That the Kaaba was a grand Vishnu temple,
St. Paul’s Cathedral a Gopal Mandiram,
Notre Dame a temple to goddess Durga,
And Paris in fact Parmeshwariam.

This was because “in Pre-Christian times,
All people, everywhere, in the entire world,
Were Hindus†. Thus was the global
Dimension of Sanaatan Dharm duly unfurled.

What chance then does a Taj Mahal have
Against such sweep of Hindutva empire,
Which takes in the earthly universe,
And defends it with fierce spiritual fire.

Badri Raina