AGRA, India (RNS) — For 83-year-old Riyaz Ahmed Khan, the ivory-white Taj Mahal is more than a symbol of love. The monument, to him, mirrors his village, Sadhan, located about 25 miles away.
“For generations, Hindus and Muslims have lived together in harmony here,” said Khan, a practicing Muslim and a retired teacher of Sanskrit, the sacred language of Hinduism. “If the Taj is an ode to love, our village has many Taj Mahals in it.”
The 17th-century marble mausoleum on the banks of the River Yamuna in the north Indian city of Agra was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in loving memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. And in Sadhan, spread over more than 70 acres in plain sight of the Taj Mahal, tolerance of different faiths has endured over centuries. Its 20,000 residents consist of Hindus and Muslims across caste lines, belonging to a farming community that tills lush fields of mustard and wheat.
Historically, residents have shared a belief in a common ancestry that has prevented religious fundamentalism from taking root in the village — even as communal riots have engulfed other parts of India. That rare communal harmony has withstood a rise in polarization across the country that has reached even nearby villages recently.
While Hindus comprise nearly 75% of Sadhan’s population, it’s common to find Muslims with Hindu names in the village, Hindus with Muslim names, mixed-faith families and families that haven’t shunned interfaith unions. That tolerance is nearly unheard of in the country, residents explained.
Riyaz Ahmed Khan, an observant Muslim and a former teacher of Sanskrit — the sacred language of Hinduism — reads from the Hindu epic Mahabharata, in Sadhan village, Agra district, India, on March 20, 2025. (Photo by Priyadarshini Sen)
“People think Taj Mahal is the ultimate symbol of love,” said Kedar Singh, a former wrestler from the village. “But they should see how we’ve made space for love in every form, including our worship practices and interfaith love.”
Singh said the love that has bound the residents together comes from their belief that religious conversions over centuries are a natural phenomenon.
According to oral tradition, large-scale conversions to Islam took place in Sadhan during the reign of Aurangzeb, the last of the great Mughal emperors of India during the 17th century. However, many residents returned to Hinduism in the early 20th century during a pan-India movement to facilitate reconversion of Hindus who embraced other religions.
“Religious conversions and takeover of religious spaces are causing societies to break up everywhere,” said Taj Khan, a Hindu who said he is proud of his Muslim name. “But what people forget in the process is our shared humanity.”
In contrast, the town of Sambhal, 125 miles from Sadhan, has been witnessing regular breakouts of violence between religious communities since a local court ordered a survey of a 500-year-old mosque last November, after claims the mosque was built on the ruins of a Hindu temple allegedly demolished during the Mughal period.
Moreover, Aurangzeb, who residents say initiated religious conversions in Sadhan, has been one of the latest targets of Hindu extremists, who demand that his grave in western India’s Maharashtra state be demolished.
People visit the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. (Photo by Chee Huey Wong/Pexels/Creative Commons)
Over the last month particularly, communal tensions and rioting have seized western India, with some extremists arguing Aurangzeb was a religious zealot who discriminated against Hindus and demolished their places of worship.
“It’s so upsetting to see all the polarization in the name of religion,” said Jameel Jadon, Sadhan’s former village leader. “It runs contrary to what our forefathers wanted since religious differences never mattered to them.”
Jadon said that even though a noted industrialist from Mumbai set up a mustard-colored temple with a green spire in the village in the 1920s to attract more people to return to the Hindu fold, it never flared communal tensions. Since the temple’s inauguration, Hindus have gathered in large numbers to offer their prayers there, while Muslims have peacefully made their way to the adjacent mosque to perform namaz. Sometimes, they’ve even prayed together.
And during weddings and festivals, Sadhan residents take part in each other’s religious and cultural ceremonies, read the Quran and Gita in each other’s homes and discuss ways to resolve disputes amicably during village meetings.
“Faith can bind or break people, so we try not to hurt anyone’s sentiments,” said Shahid Pervez, a Muslim lawyer from Sadhan. “Except male circumcision, halal and burial of the dead, most of our practices are indistinguishable from Hindus’.”
Although women have remained largely in the shadows in the village, they’ve also spoken out against communal violence and targeting of mixed-faith families.
“I was enraged by incidents like the Babri mosque demolition, Bombay riots and Muzaffarnagar riots that fanned the flames of vote-bank politics,” said Farzana Khan, a homemaker who’s a supporter of mixed-faith families in her village, referring to violent incidents in the last few decades.
And when communal riots broke out in the neighboring towns of Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Achhnera in 2017 over alleged slaughtering of a cow and accusations of a plot to incite Hindu-Muslim riots, Sadhan remained calm.
“We told people that brotherhood matters much more than narrow identity politics,” said Shishya Pal Singh, a Hindu by faith whose family includes several members who follow Islam. “We tied sacred threads at the Fatehpur Sikri monument and led peace marches in the village to remind people of our history.”
Some residents say local leaders in recent years have tried to create communal frenzies or spearhead Hindu conversion campaigns, promising economic gains to attract people to the divisive movements. Harish Rajput, an 18-year-old law student living in the village, said the conversion campaigns in the last decade or so have been geared primarily toward dividing communities and triggering violence. But as a result, Rajput said, some of Sadhan’s youth are becoming more militant.
“Religious nationalists backed by right-wing organizations want to widen their support bases in our villages,” Rajput said. “Some of our young are attaching themselves to them and becoming more conscious of their religious identity.”
Overlooking Sadhan village in Agra district, India, where Hindus and Muslims have lived together, shared names and religious practices over centuries, on March 20, 2025. (Photo by Priyadarshini Sen)
This year on Holi — the Hindu festival of colors — some residents said police personnel were stationed in the village to give the “perception” that there could be breakouts of intercommunal violence threatening peace and harmony.
“This is what we need to prevent,” said Ganesh, a 53-year-old Hindu priest who turned his modest ashram into a “space of fluidity between Islam and Hinduism,” where both a Muslim saint and the Hindu goddess Kali are worshipped. Ganesh does not use a caste-based surname.
Ganesh has been undertaking pilgrimages on foot to spread communal harmony in the village by reminding people of India’s pluralistic traditions. Under his care, Muslims recite Vedic mantras while Hindus recite verses from the Quran, he said.
“We need to preserve our age-old love,” Khan said. “Like how the Taj Mahal has seen love and hate over centuries, we will continue on the path of nonviolence and inclusion.”
