Funeral of Shah Jahān,

18th-century painting

The British Library

On 15th May, 2015 I was visiting the Taj Mahal for perhaps the umpteenth time for I had lived near it as a teenager when I saw a banner. This was something new. It was a banner announcing the 360th urs of Emperor Shah Jahan.

And no wonder for I hear from Sarthak Malhotra who is researching on Taj Mahal that around a decade ago it was restarted.

Sarthak tells me that the chador ceremony starts from the tomb of Hazrat Bukhari a Sufi saint invited by Emperor Shah Jahan to take care of the empresses’grave. Then goes to a few other shrines finally coming to the Taj Mahal.

Ebba koch describes the annual urs held for Mumtaz Mahal Begum by Emperor Shah Jahan, so possibly as long as the Mughal Empire lasted, the urs of both the Emperor & Empress was celebrated & fell in disuse later.

Urs means wedding and is a term associated with the death anniversary of a Sufi for death is the Sufi’s ultimate aim : a union with with God.

I had not known that Emperor Shah Jahan was a Sufi. Later on I read that Kucha Chelan in Delhi was so named because his mureed or chela lived there.

I read in Maulvi Basheeruddin Ahmed’s book Waqiaat e Darul Hukumat Dehli that he was extremely religious and that is why he was the only one who qualified to lay the foundation stone of Jama Masjid in Delhi. He had offered all his prayers on time along with the superogatory prayers ( tahajjud) and kept all fasts.

Entry was free on the day of the urs. The lower chamber where the second set of cenotaph are housed in the Taj Mahal was open and we were allowed to go down. There were offerings of green chador, flowers and money on both the graves.

The bigger one on the left is of Emperor Shah Jahan while the smaller one in the middle is of Mumtaz Mahal Begum.

There was quite a lot of people

When I was a teenager I remember this level was open. Now I believe it’s only opened for the urs of the emperor.

This is about the only sign left that the Rauza e Munawwara was intended as a religious sphere and not a rendezvous for lovers.

• Khabaram raseed imshab ki nigaar khwahi aamad
• Sar-e man fidaa-e raah-e ki sawaar khwahi aamad
• Tonight I received word that you,
• O beloved, would come,
• May my head be sacrificed to the road
• along which you come riding
•  
• – Hazrat Amir Khusrau

Amir Khusrau was born as Abul Hasan Yameenuddin in Patiyali village of modern-day Kasganj, in 1253, to Amir Saifuddin Turk Lachin Mahmood, a Turkish soldier from Balkh, and an Indian woman. His maternal grandfather Imad-ul-Mulk Rawat Arz was sultan Balban’s minister of war.

It is said that when he was born, his father swaddled him in a piece of cloth and took him to a mystic neighbour. He cast a glance at the baby and said, “Amir Lachin, you have brought to me one who will go two steps beyond Khaqani.”

At the age of eight, Abdul accompanied his father to the khanqah of Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya.

When his father went inside, the young boy remained at the door, remarking:

“I shall choose my ‘Peer/Spiritual guide’ myself, and if bestowed with Divine Power, he will converse with me even from a distance.”

Thus, sitting at the door, he composed:

• Tu an Shah-e-ke bar aiwan-e-qasrat.
• Kabutar gar nashinad baz garded.
• Gharib-e mustanande baradar amad.
• Be ayat andar un ya baz gardad.
• You are such a mighty King
• that if a pigeon sits in your palace, it turns into a hawk.
• An outsider and a man of need has reached your doorstep,
• please let him know whether he should come in, or go away.

Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, who it was said had supernatural powers, sent him the following verse as a response, via a disciple:

• Biya yet andarun marde haqiqat,
• Kibama yak nafas hamraz gardad,
• Agar ablah buwad an mard nadan,
• Azan rahe ki amad baz gardad.
• The person who knows the truth may come inside
• so that we may exchange divine secrets for a moment.
• If this person is ignorant, he should return
• on the same path he has come from

Hazrat Amir Khusrau immediately rose and ran to the saint, and fell at his feet and wept!

After this famous spiritual exchange, the saint accepted him as his mureed — his seeker. Gradually, the two became inseparable.

Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya called his mureed Miftah-al Sama (the key of religious ecstasy).

According to legend, “Mehboob-e-Ilahi” — as Nizamuddin was called — rubbed his luab e dahan (saliva) on his disciple’s lips and that led to his voice and words becoming sweeter.

He recited the verse:

• Zulfat za-har-do jaanib, khoonrez e aashiqaan ast
• 
Cheezey namii tawaaN guft, roo e tu darmeyaan ast

• While your tresses shed lovers’ blood from both sides

• Your face, in the middle, robs them of any power to complain
• (translated by Avinash Pandey)

Thus he received the title of Tooti-e-Hindustan, or the parrot of Hindustan.

That was an era of cultural attainment and there were many incomparable poets in the Khilji Sultanate but according to the famous historian Zaiuddin Barni, “The incomparable Amir Khusrau stands unequalled for the volume of his writings and the originality of his ideals; for, while other great masters of prose and verse have excelled in one or two branches, Amir Khusrau was conspicuous in every department of letters. A man with such mastery over all forms of poetry has never existed in the past and may perhaps not come into existence before the Day of Judgement.”

He was not just a poet but also a musician, a venerated composer and is credited with the invention of several musical instruments and laying down the theoretical basis for much of Indo-Muslim music.

Amir Khusrau is credited with turning the sema music into qawwali as it is sung today. He was entrusted with developing it as a complete form of music, and chose 12 young students to accomplish the task — and called them the qawwal bachcha. It is through them that he presented Qaul Qalbana and other forms of Qawwali.Munshi Raziuddin and his sons Farid Ayaz and Abu Mohamed are descendants of those very qawwal bachchas.

Khusrau is said to be the inventor of many musical instruments, including the tabla.

He composed numerous new ragas and is said to have created six forms of music — namely Qaul, Qalbana, Khayal, Tarana, Naqsh and Gul. The last two have lapsed into obscurity while the rest remain.

Safinat-ul-Auliya mentions that he was always burning in the flames of passion and longing, so much so that often the clothes on his body would be charred. (A beautiful way of expressing his emotions; I am sure it is not to be taken literally).

He (Amir Khusrau) was one of the chief disciples of Sheikh Nizamuddin Auliya; and a disciple with a firmer faith in his master I have never seen. Of love and affection, too, he had his full share, and he was a man of ecstasy and rapture.

Khusrau, a fervent devotee of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, was devastated when the saint left this world. At the time, he was in Lakhnauti on official work and upon hearing the tragic news, he gave up all his worldly possessions, left the imperial service and immediately left for Delhi.

On reaching the dargah, he recited the doha:

• Gori soye sej par
• mukh par dare kes
• Chal Khusrau ghar aapnay
• saanjh bhayi chahu des

• The fair maiden rests on the wreath (of roses),

• Her tresses covering her face,
Let us,
• Oh Khusrau, go back now,

• The dark dusk settles in four corners

Though those around him tried to alleviate his agony, especially Hazrat Nasiruddin Chiragh Delhi, Khusrau was utterly inconsolable. He spent his entire time weeping at the foot of his master’s shrine six months after he died at the age of 74 on Friday, the 20th , Zil Qayda 725 AH (1324 AD).

Their love for each other had been so great that Mehboob e Ilahi had said that Amir should be buried near him as they could not share a grave as per Islam. And so he was buried at the Yaarani Chabutra — next to his master, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya.

Chronicler Basheeruddin Ahmed writes in Waqeat e Darul Hukumat Dehli that there had indeed been spare space next to Hazrat Nizamuddin’s grave, but one Khwaja Sara remarked that if the two graves lay next to each other, those who came to pay respects would get confused.

Thus, he was buried a little away from his master, resting in a separate tomb. It is said that Khwaja Sara, who had gone against the saint’s will, died in his sleep a few days later.

For ages, his grave had no dome or enclosure and was built much later, in 1014 AH/1605 AD.

In the last years of Akbar and the initial years of Jahangir’s reign, Imaduddin Hasan — known as Tahir — had an enclosure and a beautiful marble dome constructed on his grave, with the following verse inscribed on it:

• TAi Khusrau benazeer e aalam
• Beh rauza tu mora niyaaz ast
• Oh matchless Khusrau
• I have faith in your shrine

In Sufi philosophy the Beloved is God or the Divine. The person seeking oneness with God is the lover.
This is ishq e haqeeqi which literally means “the real love” but metaphorically it means “the love of God”. It refers to the belief that only God is worth loving and He is the only one who can return His creature’s love for Him.
Khusrau darya prem ka, ulti wa ki dhaar,
Jo utra so doob gaya, jo dooba so paar.

Oh Khusrau, the river of love
Runs in strange directions.
One who jumps into it drowns,
And one who drowns, gets across.

The death of a Sufi saint therefore, is regarded as wisaal (union with the beloved), and the death anniversary is celebrated as a wedding anniversary and not an occasion for mourning.
The material world is the maika and afterlife is sasural
“Yeh duniya mere babul ka ghar
Woh duniya sasural”

The Dargah sharif of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya ( from their Facebook page)

Khusrau raen suhaag ki, jaagi pi ke sung,
Tun mero mun pi-u ko, dovu bhaye ek rung.

Khusrau (the bride) spends the eve of her wedding
Awake with her beloved, (in such a way that)
The body belongs to her, but heart to the beloved,
The two become one.
Amir Khusrau famously said on beholding the body of Pir o Murshid Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya
Gori sovay sej par, mukh par daaray kes,
Chal Khusrau ghar aapnay, saanjh bhayee chahu des.

The fair maiden rests on the wreath (of roses),
Her tresses covering her face,
Let us, Oh Khusrau go back now,
The dark dusk settles in four corners

Urs rituals are generally performed by the custodians of the shrine, and usually include the singing of religious music such as qawwali.

From today starts the 711th Urs of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya and Hazrat Haji Ali

(From the Facebook of Dargah sharif Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya: )
The various functions in the Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin will be as follows

On the day of the urs his admirers, disciples, followers and relatives assemble together at the grave of the Saint to obtain spiritual benefit and celebrate the anniversary and rejoice that he has achieved wisaal with the Divine.
It is recommended to recite the Quran Shareef and pass on the Sawaab (reward) to their soul and to recite Fateha. Qawwalis are sung to obtain spiritual succour and go in a state of trance. This can be seen in the program for this year’s Urs at the Dargah as given in the photograph above

Translation of Hazrat Amir Khusrau from here