Pilgrims’ progress

A hidden Sufi shrine in Old Delhi draws hundreds of fakeers for a night of devotion before their journey to the Urs of Hazrat Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer.

They are bearing long scraggy beards. They are dressed in turbans, and long kurtas. Their necks are loaded with chains of colourful stones. Their fingers are decked with rings. They form a crowd, but each of them appears to be immersed in his own private world, as if he were utterly alone.

The courtyard is part of a Sufi shrine. The shrine is barely known in the city. (Mayank Austen Soofi)

These are fakeers. Tonight, they are packed into a tiny courtyard. The courtyard is part of a Sufi shrine. The shrine is barely known in the city.

Even so, this dargah in Old Delhi, hidden away in a corner, along the stone walls of Jama Masjid, is among the city’s most rare Sufi shrines. For it is devoted to a woman. Only two other Sufi shrines in the capital are centered around women. One is of Bibi Fatima Sam’s in Kaka Nagar, near Khan Market. The other is of Mai Sahiba’s at Adhchini village, near IIT Delhi. The words “Mai Sahiba” of course translates to “respected mother,” and in Adchini shrine, they refer to the mother of Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, whose world-famous shrine lies in the central parts of the city.

This dargah in Old Delhi is devoted to one more Mai Sahiba—this “mai” is believed to be the “muhboli” mother of Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, whose historic shrine lies in south Delhi’s Mehrauli.

Despite existing in relative obscurity, the significance of this Old Delhi dargah is made clear by the presence tonight of hundreds of fakeers in its courtyard. One of the fakeers explains the context of the gathering.

Every year, the fakeer says, it is a tradition among the Sufi mystics to walk all the way to Ajmer in Rajasthan to attend the Urs, or death anniversary celebrations, of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti—that saint’s dargah being the world’s most important shrine in Sufism. The Ajmer saint’s 814th Urs is falling later this month. Per the fakeer, the mystics from across towns, during their walking journey to Ajmer, tend to join forces along the way. It is a custom for them to make a stopover in Delhi, traditionally considered the city of 22 Sufi masters. Here, the fakeers jointly visit scores of important shrines over a few days, always beginning with this dargah in the old quarter.

After finishing with his explanation, the fakeer returns to his place in the courtyard, joining the other fakeers. They all will spend the cold night in the dargah. Soon, devotional qawwalis start emanating out from a speaker. (The sound of the music is heard in distant rooftops.) The fakeers start to sway together, briefly discarding their individual solitariness.

Later in the night, long after the clock has struck two, the crowded shrine is finally marooned in pin-drop silence. Some fakeers are lying asleep on the courtyard’s carpeted floor; many others are sleeping in the back courtyard, as well as out on the roadside. One fakeer is wide awake, praying. See photo.