The Bedil pilgrimage. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Torn, faded silk fabrics are lying like shrouds upon the ruined graves, sheltering these relics from rain, sunshine and dust. And in one corner lies a grave with a roof. Here sleeps a poet. Nearly 300 years after his death, Mirza Abdul-Qadir Bedil is largely forgotten in our city but he commands a cult following in Afghanistan and in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. This explains the presence of a Russian-language signboard beside his tomb. Unveiled in 2006 by Tajikistan President, Emomali Rahmonov, it celebrates a legend who “was nourished by this blissful and fertile land of Hindustan” and whose “celestial verses had greatly benefited the evolution of the poetry of Persia and