An Indian man has built a near-replica of the Taj Mahal in the memory of his mother.
Amrudeen Sheik Dawood, 49, made the 743 sq m marble mausoleum to express his love for Jailani Bibi at a one-acre plot of land in Tiruvarur in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
He brought 100 tonnes of marble from Rajasthan and spent 50 million rupees ($610,000) constructing the memorial.
Ms Bibi died in 2020 after spending two weeks in hospital following a heart attack.
Mr Dawood, a rice merchant, said he was inspired by the 17th century world heritage monument and wanted to build a Mughal-inspired mausoleum for his mother.
His replica stands 12 metres tall on a 1.2-metre platform. Each of its four minarets is 14 metres in height. The width of the mausoleum is nearly 33 metres.
The historic monument is five times bigger, standing nearly 60 metres tall on a 6.7-metre platform. Each of its minarets is nearly 42 metres tall.
“I extremely loved her. When she left me suddenly, I did not want to leave her in the graveyard. My brother and I had a vision to build a memorial for her and express our love and affection for her,” Mr Dawood told The National.
Ms Bibi had lost her husband Sheikh Dawood when she was 36. She raised her six children – four daughters, Mr Dawood and her foster son Mohammed Abdul Khadar – on her own.
“My father died in 1989. My mother raised us alone. She struggled a lot to raise us. She did not remarry and sacrificed her life for us and looked after my father’s business,” Mr Dawood said.
After her death, Mr Dawood contacted engineers and architects and selected a design that resembled the iconic monument in Agra in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
The Taj Mahal was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial for his wife Mumtaz Begum.
'Mothers are precious'
“I wanted to use the white marble because my mother had a white heart. There was no darkness in her heart,” said Mr Dawood.
“She taught us to help poor people, give food to the needy. She taught us to be sincere, disciplined and confident in life.”
The construction of the building started in 2021. More than 200 labourers, half of them migrants from Rajasthan, were involved in its construction.
It was completed last month and was opened to the public on June 2.
The mausoleum is divided into three parts – Ms Bibi’s tomb, a mosque and a madrassa.
“Mothers are precious for all human beings,” said Mr Dawood. “I want to tell everyone to love and respect their mothers, their parents. With this memorial, I want to teach everyone to be kind to her, love her and have mercy on her.”
