A Sufi occasion

[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Delhi is the city of Sufis. It is known as ‘Bais khwaja ki chaukhat’, the threshold of 22 Sufis.

To understand the soul of this city, you must make a pilgrimage to a shrine six hours away in Ajmer, Rajasthan. It is devoted to Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, and today the Dargah is celebrating the saint’s 813th Urs. (The death anniversary of a Sufi saint is not mourned, but celebrated. Urs means “wedding” in Arabic and it symbolizes the union of the lover with the beloved, who is God.)

Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti occupies a principal position in Sufism, the mystical aspect of Islam. He established the Chishti silsila (order) in the subcontinent; its spiritual successors were Sufis like Khwaja Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki of Mehrauli, Baba Farid of Pakpattan in Pakistan, and our Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya.

Known as Gharib Nawaz, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti—khwaja meaning “master” in Persian—is visited each year by millions from across faiths. His shrine is steeped in unique life. Each evening as the dargah’s caretakers carry large candles to the durbar, the saint’s tomb-chamber, hundreds of birds land on the branches of the mursali tree beside the domed grave chamber. Little else is heard in the courtyard except for their chirping.

Throughout its history Ajmer has been a center of pilgrimage. Emperor Akbar visited the dargah 14 times, once walking all the way from Agra. Jehangir lived in Ajmer for three years. Shah Jahan built a marble mosque in the dargah. Princess Jahanara raised the marble porch Begumi Dalaan opposite the entrance to the durbar. In 1911, Queen Mary passed through the pilgrim town, paying for the restoration of the ablution pool.

After the night prayers, while the qawwals are rendering verses in the courtyard, the worshippers are asked to leave the sacred durbar, which is then cleaned by khadims with brooms made of peacock feathers. As the last functionary comes out of the chamber, everyone gets up and the qawwals recite Karka, a musical verse in Persian, Sanskrit and Brij. The Khwaja’s chamber is locked until the pre-dawn prayer.

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