[Reader-list] Settlement at Hazrat Nizamuddin- Posting 3

[naveid pasha]

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Hi friends.
This is the third posting in the series of research on the settlement at Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti.(This is for the independent fellowship)
So here goes...

It is the city of Djinns, said Pir Sadr-ud-Din. Although the city was attacked by invaders time and again, it was rebuilt every time. Each time it rose like a phoenix from the fire. The reason for this, said Sadr-ud-Din, was that the djinns loved Delhi so much they could never bear to see it empty or deserted. To this day every house, every street corner is haunted by them. - City of Djinns by William Dalrymple Delhi, they say, hides in it a malleable spirit that converts ashes into brand new citadels.
Cramped with energies of times old and new, Delhi, with its unique blend of seven historical cities now harbours people and cultures as multi-faceted as a ray of light passing through a prism. Areas such as Nizamuddin, Mehrauli and Jama Masjid are at the three separate ends of the city, forgotten in the mad rush of cosmopolitan activity. But they are more alive and pulsating with crisp energy now than they probably ever did in the history of modern Delhi.

Delhi s historical ruins speak of a royal past. Today more mundane activities sports, shopping and eating are their hallmark Historic buildings in Jama Masjid, Nizamuddin, Mehrauli and the Lodi Gardens are all leaves from a dynamic period of Indian history. But today they are connected with activities far removed from the past sport and leisure, eating, and worship making them familiar in our vocabulary of the city.
But once there were kings and queens, there was a fortressed city and a sumptuous palace; there was the trumpeting of elephants as they marched in procession carrying a royal retinue. There was the rhythmic sound of stone cutters as they erected the walls of another new city along the banks of the river Yamuna; and in a humble hut, there lived a holy man whose piety and learning brought people from far and near to establish a basti now synonymous with his name. And famous for its shrine where the Sufi saint, Nizamuddin, lies buried. Not all of this happened at the same time. Nizamuddin Auliya was born in AD 1236 and lived for almost 100 years. Hazrat Nizamuddin was an inhabitant of Badayun. After the demise of his father, his mother brought him to Delhi for educational purposes. In Delhi he became a disciple of Baba Farid. He lived at Mia bazaar ke sarai in old Delhi till his landlord asked him to vacate the house, as he was unable to pay the rent. Amir Khusro, a disciple of  Hazrat Nizamuddin took him and his mother to the haveli of his grand father in old Delhi. Khusro s grandfather did not appreciate this and when Amir Khusro had gone to Patiala his grandfather asked the saint and his mother to shift out immediately. In this fashion he lived with different people for almost eleven years till one day he heard about a quiet and peaceful place called Gyaspur, situated outside the main city. On reaching there he found that Gyaspur was a small village situated on the banks of Sitari, a tributary of Yamuna. The only inhabitants of this small town were a few poor fishermen. Nizamuddin liked the place instantly and started living there in a hut with a thatched roof. After sometime Ziauddin, a nobleman from the king s court built a khanqah for him, which still exists till date. He was a very special man, who by the example of his own austere and saintly life became known as a zinda pir, a living saint who could heal the body and spirit. Although his disciples built a tomb over his grave, the original, repaired and rebuilt by a Tughlaq monarch has long since disappeared. Today, the dargah of Nizamuddin is the collective work of many successive followers of the saint s teachings who added to a structure first built in 1562 by a devotee, the nobleman Faridun Khan.
Nizamuddin basti today is a congested, people-ridden settlement not all of its inhabitants are aware of the spiritual origins of where they live, and certainly not interested in the little architectural gems that exist so close to their own ragged lives. To reach the dargah, you have to fight your way through warrens of the old and the infirm whose makeshift plastic roofs or dusty odds and ends identify their minuscule places on the earth, past wayside stalls peddling garishly coloured sweets and ribbons, readymade packets of taburuk (rose petals and sweets as offering at the dargah), marigold flowers and coverings for the head. And if you can ward off the self-styled guides successfully, you are finally in the holy precinct itself.
Surrounded by a courtyard of marble flooring, the tomb pavilion is enclosed by delicately trellised screens. As rich and zealous devotees contributed their bit to glorify the saint, the tomb acquired an ornate mother-of-pearl canopy, a veranda with engraved marble columns and brackets, and as late as the early 19th century, a huge marble dome with gold encrusted finials. The spirit of Hazrat Nizamuddin remains, however, very much above all the show of grandeur, and it is impossible not to be moved to devotion, especially on Thursday nights when the qawwals sing impassioned verses in praise of the 
Sufi saint.
Aside from the steamy dhabas that dish out spicy meat recipes and thick soft rotis to soak up the gravy, several other structures make the Nizamuddin complex a place worth visiting. Across the tomb enclosure to the west is the red sandstone Jamat Khana Mosque built on the spot where Nizamuddin himself would pray and sermonise. Probably constructed in 1325, it is a composite structure of three domes over three bays, central one being the largest. One of the telltale signs that establishes the period of building before the prolific Feroze Shah Tughlaq period are the marble lotus buds that fringe the arches, while the arches themselves are squinched to make the square bays appear octagonal. On the northern side of the dargah is a baoli, now practically dry all year round, where young boys would show off their diving skills. Even though historians date the baoli back to the reign of Feroze Tughlaq, oral history has it that the work for the baoli had begun during the period of Gyasuddin Tughlaq. Gyasuddin Tughlaq had a dislike for Hazrat Nizamuddin and so he derived means of irritating and disturbing him. Legend says the baoli was being built when the imperious Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, angered by the saint s refusal to pay back money to the royal coffers that he had given away in charity, forbade its further construction. More-over, Nizamuddin had prophesied that Ghiyasuddin s son, prince Jauna would become the sultan which he did by manipulating his father s death. Moreover the construction of the baoli coincided with the construction of Gyasuddin Tughlaq s fort. So he ordered all the labourers in the city to work at his construction site and banned any other construction work in the city. So the workers decided to work for the baoli at night, in the light of oil lamps. 
When Tughlaq found out about this he got angry and forbid the shopkeepers to sell oil to the people in Gyaspur. By this time the workers had already hit water level and some amount of water had already surfaced. Hazrat Nizamuddin asked his disciple to take some of this water in a lamp and light it. When he did this the water started to burn like oil. It is from here that this disciple got the title of roshan chirag [burning lamp] and came to be known as Hazrat Chirag Dehli [the lamp of Delhi].
A few other minor monuments dot the Nizamuddin complex, but within the dargah enclosure itself is the delicate tomb of Jahanara, Shah Jehan s daughter, and a disciple of the Chisti saint. She is said to have built it during her lifetime, inscribing it with the touching words: Let naught cover my grave save the green grass; for grass well suffices as a covering for the grave of the lowly. It is unfortunately noticed only by some as they return from the ritual homage to the main shrine.
A pilgrimage to Nizamuddin is incomplete without a visit to two to the other graves, one surrounded by marble jaalis that of Amir Khusro, the saint’s most devoted disciple and poet whose mystic verses are sung by every qawwal; and the other, simpler one of yet another writer, Mirza Ghalib, perhaps the greatest Urdu and Persian poet to have ever lived. Chaunsat khambe, is another interesting structure which lies behind the mazaar of Mirza Ghalib is actually the tomb of Mirza Shamsuddin, who was the brother of Mirza Aziz Kokantash and their mother had breast fed King Akbar. And it was Akbar who had gotten the tomb constructed after Shamsuddin had been murdered.
The markaz, a building which is situated opposite the Ghalib Academy, and which is a mosque cum resting-place for the jamats [ groups of people who travel from place to place propagating religious fervour amongst Muslims] is another structure of historical importance. The history of this markaz is as follows : there was a bagh called Baghiche-Anarkali where now the Markaz is. The bagh was last owned by two brothers, Mir Taqi and Mir Naqi. Sitari, a tributary of river Yamuna was the source of irrigation for this spectacular bagh. Goods were transported to this part of the city via the river. Mir Taqi & Mir Naqi had got a baradari built in the bagh for leisure. People called this a bungalow because it had a sloping roof instead of a dome, which was the Islamic way of building. The sloping roof was the influence of British architectural style. This baradari was later taken over by Mirza Ilahi Baksh, the father in law of Bahadurshah Zafar s eldest son. Mirza Ilahi Baksh had been instrumental in getting Bahadurshah arrested by the British forces in the revolt of 1857. A mosque was later constructed inside the baradari which came to be known as the bangle waali masjid. The village gradually developed, more people came and settled and came to be known as Nizamuddin. The village was embellished by subsequent dynasties of  kings and important people by buildings. Feroze Tughlak made the Kali Masjid, a semi covered mosque. another buildings of interest is the tomb of Ataga Khan, the tomb of Telangani. Nizamuddin has the most outstanding collection of Islamic Architecture ranging over a period of 700 years. The buildings vary in visual appearance and material, but yet retain homogeneity. In the heart of the basti, is the Ghalib Academy, the venue of seminars and mushairas (poetry reading) year round. The academy boasts of an impressive library. It is no geographical coincidence that the Academy is where it is, but a conscious implant.
 
 
Every year, an Urs is held to celebrate the memory of one whose mysticism was not esoteric. This is the reason why the common masses then and now call him the Mahboob-e-llahi (beloved of the Gods]. Such had been the power of his philosophy, its democratic pull, that he was ingrained in the hearts of the people.History is full of ironies. Here is the legend of a saint who was discovered by his most illustrious disciple, poet-philosopher Amir Khusrau. It is the oral tradition in history which has helped in imparting to Nizamuddin Aulia this aura. The old timers in the basti, which today is surrounded by a concrete jungle, have inherited this oral tradition handed to them though generation.
Of course, it is the dargah which beckons you when enter the rather deceptively long lane running to it. As you see it from the Mathura road side, the staid building of the Nizamuddin police station tells you that modernization has touched the basti. But mercifully, the police station is perhaps the only eyesore, which will greet you. Hundreds of eateries to the left and the white marble Masjid (mosque) on the right combine to restore the romance of the old effectively and quickly.
The Prima Donna among the eateries is the Karim Nemat Kada, the modern variant of the celebrated Karim Hotel located in Old Delhi. Karim, of course, is for those who can afford to indulge themselves once in a while. But for those on a smaller budget innumerable hotels serve delicious meals like the Jama Masjid area. You can buy a stomach-filling meal for as little as Rs.3/-. The highlight of this poor man s paradise is nihari a kind of residue of meat leftovers, bone juices etc which are cooked over low heat for a minimum of six hours and eaten with kulchas a kind of bread. The therapeutic propensities of the concoction make it ideal for those convalescing after a long illness.
But you don t go to Nizamuddin for its eateries alone. During the heady days of the Urs, which is a festival of mausiqui (music) more than anything else, well known and not so well known qawwals (singers of qawalis) display their vocal talents for one whole week. In contrast to the rabid commercialism which has infected the genre outside this world of naatia and Sufi Kalaam, (sufi songs and music) the qawwalis here are imbued with a long spiritual tradition extolling the divine graces of saint unseen.
The dargah is visited by at least 1000 people daily right through the year. 

Now let me put in a few words about Sufism, a movement that is integral to the Dargah.

A Sufi is a follower of the mystical path, those who seek experience of the 'tawhid', who follow the spiritual path, the term applies only to the most advanced practitioners

The dargah (shrine) of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, more popularly known as Garib Nawaz or the comfort of the poor, is considered, after Mecca and Medina, to be the most sacred shrine of Muslims from the Indian subcontinent. The hospice of the great saint and founder of the Chistiya silsilah (Chisti strain or tradition) of Sufism in India goes back several hundred years, almost to the earliest period of the Muslim conquest of India. What is more, it serves as an interesting parallel, if not contrast, to the ''official'' Islam that clerics and kings in Delhi usually espoused. 
This dargah, representing years of Sufi traditions, which is open to everyone regardless of caste, creed, faith, age, or gender, twenty-four hours a day, not only posed a powerful challenge to the Hindu orthodoxy of the time, but also to the Muslim orthodoxy represented by the ulema (orthodox Islamic clerics). While the dominant Hindu practices emphasized caste hierarchies and exclusion, the dargah of the saint was the refuge of the most lowly, humble, and oppressed people of the land. While the Muslim priestocracy preached the supremacy of Islam, the religion of the conquerors, the Chistis demonstrated their love and acceptance of people of all faiths.
The Chistis, unlike many other Sufi traditions or orders, always kept a healthy distance from the power politics of the court. They practiced extreme poverty and simplicity. Their fondness for music soon endeared them to the masses. Like the shrine of any Hindu saint, the dargah of the Sufis became a center not only of the worship of the pir or guru, but also a place of healing, refuge, and wish fulfillment. No wonder, people of all faiths, Hindus and Muslims alike, flock to these shrines even today. Sufis are essentially mystics who recognize an all-pervading reality above and beyond this material world and human understanding. Originally of Islamic extract, it is an intensely psycho-spiritual belief system, which preaches harmony and humanitarian values. Known as 'Tassawuf' or Islamic mysticism in Arabic, Sufism is also widely accepted as the devotional path to the Soul's realization of this reality as presented in the essence of the Holy Quran's teachings.
Sufi traditions of peace and coexistence are very powerful as an expression of people's Islam in our subcontinent, but unfortunately the ruling clergy has never given them either recognition or validity. The Durgah of Hazrat Nizamuddin being situated here, this makes Nizamuddin Basti a very important face of Sufism as it exists today.