Giardini di Pinjore

I giardini di Pinjore (noti anche come giardini di Yadavindra) sono giardini moghul realizzati nel villaggio di Pinjore, a 22 kilometri da Chandigarh sulla strada Ambala-Shimla, in India.

Vista diurna dei giardini di Pinjore, 1998

Il complesso fu progettato da Nawab Fidal Khan, architetto di corte e fratello di latte dell'Imperatore Aurangzeb.

Constance Villiers-Stuart ebbe l'occasione di risiedere all'interno dei giardini e ne fece un'accurata descrizione nel suo libro Gardens of the Great Mughals, del 1913. Scrisse che "Una storia affascinante sopravvive ancora, di come, quando alla fine i lavori furono terminati, Fadai giunse nello stato per trascorrervi la sua prima estate, sia il godimento del giardino che delle bellezze in esso contenuto ebbero breve durata, perché i Raja ben presto lo terrorizzarono facendolo scappare. Nei territori circostanti Pinjore, e di fatto lungo tutte le pendici dell'Himalaya, si erano riscontrati occasionali episodi di struma; questi poveri malati iniziarono ad essere radunati, anche da molto lontano, da scaltri brahmini, e spacciati per i veri abitanti del paese. Tutti i giardinieri soffrivano di gozzo, così come i coolies; perfino le contadine che portavano le grandi ceste di frutta e fiori fino alle terrazze dello Zenana erano in tal modo sfigurate. Le donne dell'harem erano disgustate; era già stato per loro sufficientemente fastidioso l'essere state portate in mezzo alla giungla selvaggia, anche senza l'aggiunta di questa preoccupazione. Le povere popolane, istruite a monte dal Raja, dissero inoltre che questa anomalia era causata dall'acqua e dall'aria di Pinjore, e che nessuno che vi si stabiliva a lungo avrebbe potuto evitare questa piaga. Il panico prese il sopravvento nello zenana; le ospiti implorarono di essere trasferite per scongiurare tale pericolo e, alla fine, Fadai Khan dovette lasciarle andare e le portò in un altro luogo meno pericoloso per la loro bellezza. Si fosse trattato dell'Imperatore in persona, invece del fratellastro, gli astuti Raja avrebbero ricevuto una sonora lezione, ma Fadai Khan, completamente ingannato, tornò solo di rado a far visita ai propri stupendi giardini, e i Raja e le loro terre furono lasciati in pace ancora per un po'".^[1]

Note

^ Testo originale: A quaint story still survives, how, when at length the work was finished, and Fadai came in state to spend his first summer there, bis enjoyment of the garden and its beauties was short-lived; for the Rajas quickly frightened him away In the districts round Pinjor, and in fact all along the foot of the Himalayas, occasional cases of goitre are to be seen; so from far and wide these poor people were collected by the wily Brahmins, and produced as the ordinary inhabitants of the place. The gardeners all suffered from goitre; every coolie had this dreadful complaint; even the countrywomen carrying up the big flat baskets of fruits and flowers to the zenana terraces were equally disfigured. The ladies of the harem naturally were horrified; it was bad enough to be brought into these wild outlandish jungles, without this new and added terror. For the poor coolie women, well instructed beforehand, had told how the air and water of Pinjor caused this disease, which no one who lived there long ever escaped. A panic reigned in the zenana; its inmates implored to be removed at once from such a danger; and finally, Fadai Khan had to give way, and take his ladies to some other place less threatening to their beauty. Had it been the terrible Emperor himself instead of his foster-brother, the cunning Rajas would have met their match. But Fadai Khan, thoroughly deceived, rarely came back to visit his lovely gardens, and the Rajas and their fields were left in peace for a time., tratto da Constance Villiers-Stuart, Gardens of the Great Mughals, 1913.

Voci correlate

Collegamenti esterni

Pinjore Gardens near Chandigarh, su sunrisevilla.in. URL consultato il 14 giugno 2010 (archiviato dall'url originale il 10 marzo 2013).
Gardens of the Great Mughals, C.M. Villiers Stuart, su gardenvisit.com. URL consultato il 14 giugno 2010 (archiviato dall'url originale il 17 ottobre 2007).
Pinjore Gardens, su chandigarh.co.uk.
The Herbert Offen Research Collection of the Phillips Library presso il Peabody Essex Museum, su pem.org. URL consultato il 14 giugno 2010 (archiviato dall'url originale il 30 gennaio 2010).

Wikimedia Commons contiene immagini o altri file su Giardini di Pinjore

Portale India: accedi alle voci di Wikipedia che parlano dell'India

[1] Testo originale: A quaint story still survives, how, when at length the work was finished, and Fadai came in state to spend his first summer there, bis enjoyment of the garden and its beauties was short-lived; for the Rajas quickly frightened him away In the districts round Pinjor, and in fact all along the foot of the Himalayas, occasional cases of goitre are to be seen; so from far and wide these poor people were collected by the wily Brahmins, and produced as the ordinary inhabitants of the place. The gardeners all suffered from goitre; every coolie had this dreadful complaint; even the countrywomen carrying up the big flat baskets of fruits and flowers to the zenana terraces were equally disfigured. The ladies of the harem naturally were horrified; it was bad enough to be brought into these wild outlandish jungles, without this new and added terror. For the poor coolie women, well instructed beforehand, had told how the air and water of Pinjor caused this disease, which no one who lived there long ever escaped. A panic reigned in the zenana; its inmates implored to be removed at once from such a danger; and finally, Fadai Khan had to give way, and take his ladies to some other place less threatening to their beauty. Had it been the terrible Emperor himself instead of his foster-brother, the cunning Rajas would have met their match. But Fadai Khan, thoroughly deceived, rarely came back to visit his lovely gardens, and the Rajas and their fields were left in peace for a time., tratto da Constance Villiers-Stuart, Gardens of the Great Mughals, 1913.

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