11th Rabi us Sani, the Islamic month, marks the gyarvin sharif or the urs of the famous Sufi saint, of Ghaus-ul-Azam – Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani, whose shrine is in Baghdad
It has always been an important date in South Asia and was was celebrated here in various ways.
In Delhi, a circular tower which measured 118 feet × 88 feet was built on a 12 feet high plinth. It had arched entrances in the lower portion with four burjis on each of the four sides and one in the centre.

There is no authentic proof of the name of the builder but as per legend, a nawab saheb who had great faith in Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani, Ghaus-ul-Azam, built it in 1354 CE.

In Sufi traditions, particularly in India, urs celebrations are held to commemorate the death anniversaries of sufi saints.
Mehndiya’n was for celebrating the urs of Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani. The custom was to make bamboo structures, cover it with bright coloured paper and light lamps on it. This was called menhdi.

This nawab saheb also used to take out a menhdi. When he became rich and in a position to do something for his saint, he got this built in the same shape as the bamboo menhdi. He would illuminate this building and give charity on the day of the ceremony. Nothing else is known about him, though.

This monument became famous as Kushk e Mehndiya’n. It was immortalized by the Daniells (William and Thomas) in watercolour and it is one of the most iconic paintings of medieval India. The Maulana Azad Medical College now stands on this location.

According to Bazm e Aakhir, The month of Rabi-us Sani is called Meeranji. On the eleventh day of this month, the day of the urs of Ghaus-ul-Azam, there is a celebration in the Qila. All kinds of fireworks, some in the shape of animals, are set off in the courtyard of the Diwan-e-Khas. A bamboo frame covered with shimmering red paper, called a mehndi, is placed in the Diwan-e-Khas. It is made for illuminating candles and lamps. The dastarkhwan is spread out and every type of food is laid on it. The Badshah lights the mehndi and consecrates the food in the name of Ghaus-ul-Azam.

When the fireworks display starts, the food is distributed.

In Search of The Divine :Living Histories of Sufism in India

Gallery Text :

This statuette group, carved in the round, was found with five other statuettes with similar imagery. The six statuettes were excavated in and just below two arched niches built into the wall of a room at Fort Shalmaneser, a royal building at Nimrud that was probably used to store booty and tribute collected by the Assyrians while on military campaign. Those found just below the niches could have fallen when the palaces were destroyed during the the final defeat of Assyria at the end of the seventh century B.C. Originally, these objects were attached to long ivory plinths and exhibited in the arched niches, perhaps arranged in a procession of foreigners bringing different animals and animal skins as tribute to the Assyrian king. A frontally facing male, striding to the right with his lower body in profile, grasps the horns of an oryx (a species of desert-dwelling antelope) that strides behind him. The male figure’s eyes, necklace, and armlet were carved to receive colored glass or semiprecious stone inlays. He wears a short kilt belted with a long sash, embroidered with decoration including two uraei (mythical, fire-spitting serpents), zig-zags, wavy lines, small squares, rosettes, diamonds, and circles. A monkey, whose fur is rendered with short incisions, sits erect on his left shoulder and grasps his short curly hair which bears traces of orange-red paint. Although his right arm does not survive, it was probably extended to support the elaborately patterned leopard skin draped over his right shoulder. The monkey, leopard skin, and oryx suggest that this piece represents a Nubian bringing luxury goods in the form of live animals and animal skin as tribute to the Assyrian king.

Built by the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II, the palaces and storerooms of Nimrud housed thousands of pieces of carved ivory. Most of the ivories served as furniture inlays or small precious objects such as boxes. While some of them were carved in the same style as the large Assyrian reliefs lining the walls of the Northwest Palace, the majority of the ivories display images and styles related to the arts of North Syria and the Phoenician city-states. Phoenician style ivories are distinguished by their use of imagery related to Egyptian art, such as sphinxes and figures wearing pharaonic crowns, and the use of elaborate carving techniques such as openwork and colored glass inlay. North Syrian style ivories tend to depict stockier figures in more dynamic compositions, carved as solid plaques with fewer added decorative elements. However, some pieces do not fit easily into any of these three styles. Most of the ivories were probably collected by the Assyrian kings as tribute from vassal states, and as booty from conquered enemies, while some may have been manufactured in workshops at Nimrud. The ivory tusks that provided the raw material for these objects were almost certainly from African elephants, imported from lands south of Egypt, although elephants did inhabit several river valleys in Syria until they were hunted to extinction by the end of the eighth century B.C.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/325089