City Faith – Hazrat Shah Turkman Bayabani’s Sufi Shrine, Old Delhi
A hidden landmark. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is the whole of it. This small room with pink walls and a white marble grave. The shrine of Sufi saint Hazrat Shah Turkman Bayabani stands unobtrusively beside the…
City Faith – Poet Kabir’s Temple, Gurgaon
Shrine to a verse-writer. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The gate is latched from inside, but you can open it by sliding your hands through the grill. And over the far end of the courtyard sits the bearded…
City Faith – An Unknown Mystic’s Roadside Grave, Zakir Hussain Marg
The essence of an anonymous grave. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Most of central Delhi used to be a jungle. It is said that dacoits roamed between Mehrauli in the south and Shahjahanabad (aka the old Delhi) in…
City Faith – Bibi Fatima Sam’s Sufi Dargah, Kaka Nagar
The world of a woman Sufi. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Women are allowed to enter here. The entry to the shrines of many sufi saints in Delhi are unjustly barred to women. So it is liberating to…
City Faith – Yakuba Begum’s Iftar, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti
For God’s sake. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is her iftar spread — plain channa dal, fresh-cut fruit and samosas. The elderly Yakuba Begum has a thick roti in her lap. She is patiently waiting for the…
City Faith – Red & Green Colors of a Sufi Complex, Outside Jama Masjid
The lights of Sufism. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The blinking spotlight was put up just last week. It first glows red, then green. Do not confuse this for a traffic signal please. This is the new lighting…
City Faith – Shakuntala Devi’s Shiv Temple, Paharganj
A tranquil pilgrimage. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Tranquility isn’t always easy to find in our teeming metropolis. But, of course, there’s recourse to temples. The Shiv Mandir in central Delhi’s Paharganj, for instance, is about as close…
City Faith – A Tree’s New Life, Shiv Temple, Vinay Marg
The consolation of a temple tree. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This tree seems to be long gone but what’s left of it is certainly not neglected. Sacred red threads envelop the stump. While marigolds and sweet dishes…
City Faith – Beyond Thursday Evening Qawwalis, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s Dargah
The world of sufi music. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] You can find it in the Lonely Planet and in most city guides. Even William Dalrymple has written about it in his Delhi memoirs. It also appears in…
City Faith – Sant Sangh Sabha Gurdwara, Kucha Chalaan
The Sikh temple round the corner. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Those on the lookout for little-known religious landmarks should make a beeline to Old Delhi’s cramped bylanes. Sooner or later you’ll bump into a Sufi shrine or…
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