Ensconced high in the lap of Zabarwan Mountain
\nLie the ruins of an ancient palace,
\nWith a lovely garden overlooking Dal Lake and Srinagar city.<\/p>\n
The elegance of the ruins projects
\nThe grandeur of the edifices they were once.<\/p>\n
Time backward and time forward
\nAre one continuous ribbon of history,
\nRelative in significance but constant in cosmic totality.<\/p>\n
Why there, away from the ropes of power and pulse of people,
\nWhy so secluded, and at such height,
\nTo what purpose did the complex exist?<\/p>\n
It must have been an august sight to see
\nPrince Dara Shikoh stroll the garden alone in 17th Cent.,
\nIn deep meditation contemplating the mystery of the heavens
\nAnd the human soul.
\nHe paid more attention to mysticism,
\nThan to the ministration of political power.
\nHe made the garden for his Sufi teacher Mullah Shah Badakhshi,
\nAnd also an observatory for astrology and astronomy.<\/p>\n
At Pari Mahal you are at the end of the world
\nAnd at the beginning of the uncharted world of the unknown,
\nBeyond which lies the realm of eternity.<\/p>\n
Between the known and the unknown
\nLies the hardest challenge for mind.
\nWhat we know is little,
\nBut it runs the world.
\nBut what is unknown runs the universe,
\nAnd empowers the human soul.<\/p>\n
The compelling mystery at Pari Mahal
\nBares a whiff of the mystery of the human soul,
\nIt surrenders a scintilla of the scheme of the universe.<\/p>\n
Prince Dara was assassinated by his brother Aurangzeb in 1619,
\nTo gain control over their father Shah Jehan\u2019s throne.
\nBut he left behind a moving monument to mystery \u2013
\nA window on human soul, a peep-hole to universe.<\/p>\n
During my visit I was the only one there,
\nWhich made me absorb the spirit of Pari Mahal better.
\nYou do not feel lonely here,
\nEven though you are immensely surrounded by it,
\nBecause your inner loneliness melts into the cosmic loneliness.<\/p>\n
Suffern,
New York,
February 13, 2012
\nwww.kaulscorner.com
\nmaharaj.kaul@yahoo.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ensconced high in the lap of Zabarwan Mountain Lie the ruins of an ancient palace, With a lovely garden overlooking Dal Lake and Srinagar city. The elegance of the ruins…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-poems"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stagingserver3.com\/Maharaj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stagingserver3.com\/Maharaj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stagingserver3.com\/Maharaj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stagingserver3.com\/Maharaj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stagingserver3.com\/Maharaj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stagingserver3.com\/Maharaj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stagingserver3.com\/Maharaj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stagingserver3.com\/Maharaj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stagingserver3.com\/Maharaj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}