• Home
  • Contact Me
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Rana Safvi
  • Home
  • About
  • Book & Publication
  • Culture & Heritage
    • Our Cultural Heritage
    • Sufi saints
  • Food
  • Hazrat-E-Dilli
  • Rana’s Space
    • Walks & Talks
    • Rana’s Space
    • Sher o Sukhan
  • Travel
    Confluence not Erasure: The Church of El Salvador in Toledo, Spain

    Confluence not Erasure: The Church of El Salvador in Toledo, Spain

    Mezquita/Cathedral del Cristo de la Luz – Where Architecture Tells a Tale

    Mezquita/Cathedral del Cristo de la Luz – Where Architecture Tells a Tale

    The Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca In Toledo, Spain—often called the “City of Three Cultures”

    The Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca In Toledo, Spain—often called the “City of Three Cultures”

    East Side Gallery, Berlin

    Neptune Fountain in Berlin

    Neptune Fountain in Berlin

    Aligarh’s Jama Masjid

    Aligarh’s Jama Masjid

    Darbar of Guru Ram Rai in Dehradun

    Darbar of Guru Ram Rai in Dehradun

    Lord Buddha’s sermon in Kausambi, Allahabad and the Fortress

    Lord Buddha’s sermon in Kausambi, Allahabad and the Fortress

    Abu Serga Church, Cairo

    Abu Serga Church, Cairo

    The Exquisite Badal Mahal in Bundi Part 1

    The Exquisite Badal Mahal in Bundi Part 1

    Jhanjhiri Mosque in Jaunpur

    Jhanjhiri Mosque in Jaunpur

    Gurudwara Lekhensar Sahib‬ in Talwandi Sabo

    Gurudwara Lekhensar Sahib‬ in Talwandi Sabo

    Ulugh Beg’s Observatory in Samarqand, Uzbekistan

    Ulugh Beg’s Observatory in Samarqand, Uzbekistan

    Rani Ki Baori, Bundi, Rajasthan

    Rani Ki Baori, Bundi, Rajasthan

    Bundi Fort, Rajasthan

    Bundi Fort, Rajasthan

    Rock Paintings in Bundi, Rajasthan

    Rock Paintings in Bundi, Rajasthan

    A Classical Nayika in Indian Paintings

    A Classical Nayika in Indian Paintings

    Jhat pat Bibi ki kahani

    Jhat pat Bibi ki kahani

    Jahangir ‘s Jade Cup

    Jahangir ‘s Jade Cup

    The Jama Masjid in Bodh Gaya

    The Jama Masjid in Bodh Gaya

    Trending Tags

    • Contact Me
    No Result
    View All Result
    • Home
    • About
    • Book & Publication
    • Culture & Heritage
      • Our Cultural Heritage
      • Sufi saints
    • Food
    • Hazrat-E-Dilli
    • Rana’s Space
      • Walks & Talks
      • Rana’s Space
      • Sher o Sukhan
    • Travel
      Confluence not Erasure: The Church of El Salvador in Toledo, Spain

      Confluence not Erasure: The Church of El Salvador in Toledo, Spain

      Mezquita/Cathedral del Cristo de la Luz – Where Architecture Tells a Tale

      Mezquita/Cathedral del Cristo de la Luz – Where Architecture Tells a Tale

      The Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca In Toledo, Spain—often called the “City of Three Cultures”

      The Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca In Toledo, Spain—often called the “City of Three Cultures”

      East Side Gallery, Berlin

      Neptune Fountain in Berlin

      Neptune Fountain in Berlin

      Aligarh’s Jama Masjid

      Aligarh’s Jama Masjid

      Darbar of Guru Ram Rai in Dehradun

      Darbar of Guru Ram Rai in Dehradun

      Lord Buddha’s sermon in Kausambi, Allahabad and the Fortress

      Lord Buddha’s sermon in Kausambi, Allahabad and the Fortress

      Abu Serga Church, Cairo

      Abu Serga Church, Cairo

      The Exquisite Badal Mahal in Bundi Part 1

      The Exquisite Badal Mahal in Bundi Part 1

      Jhanjhiri Mosque in Jaunpur

      Jhanjhiri Mosque in Jaunpur

      Gurudwara Lekhensar Sahib‬ in Talwandi Sabo

      Gurudwara Lekhensar Sahib‬ in Talwandi Sabo

      Ulugh Beg’s Observatory in Samarqand, Uzbekistan

      Ulugh Beg’s Observatory in Samarqand, Uzbekistan

      Rani Ki Baori, Bundi, Rajasthan

      Rani Ki Baori, Bundi, Rajasthan

      Bundi Fort, Rajasthan

      Bundi Fort, Rajasthan

      Rock Paintings in Bundi, Rajasthan

      Rock Paintings in Bundi, Rajasthan

      A Classical Nayika in Indian Paintings

      A Classical Nayika in Indian Paintings

      Jhat pat Bibi ki kahani

      Jhat pat Bibi ki kahani

      Jahangir ‘s Jade Cup

      Jahangir ‘s Jade Cup

      The Jama Masjid in Bodh Gaya

      The Jama Masjid in Bodh Gaya

      Trending Tags

      • Contact Me
      No Result
      View All Result
      Rana Safvi
      No Result
      View All Result

      The Controversy over Bagh e Bedil

      inHazrat-E-Dilli
      0

       

      Bagh-e-Bedil: The Full Scoop

      POSTED BY SUNDEEP DOUGAL ON MAR 31, 2007 AT 23:48 IST in Outlook

      There is more to report on the matter of Bedil’s grave. Just as we are about to go to press, Naim saab in Chicago has been able to hunt out the book he was looking for and this is what he has to report further on the subject that has been causing us a grave concern:

      1. Life And Works Of Abdul Qadir Bedily by Dr. Abdul Ghani,

      “[Bedil] was down with typhoid fever towards the end of Muharram 1133 AH (Nov. 1720). After four or five days the fever disappeared, and, thinking that he had recovered, Bedil took a bath on the 2nd of Safar 1133 AH (December 3, 1720). On Wednesday the 3rd of Safar there was a relapse of fever which remained for the whole of the night. Nawab Ghairat Khan Bahadur . . . was with him for the whole of the night. Sometimes Bedil swooned, and then came to himself. When he regained senses, he would burst into laughter involuntarily. The hopes of recovery waned at last, and at dawn the condition changed horribly. It was Thursday, 4th Safar 1133 AH (December 5, 1720) when six gharis had passed after sunrise, the Bedil’s soul winged its way to Heaven. His sacred remains were buried in the courtyard of his house, on the bank of the river Jamna, at the place specified by himself.” (pp. 110-11)

      The above statement is based on three impeccable contemporary sources, including Bindaban Das ‘Khushgo’, a most ardent admirer of Bedil who was in Delhi then. Khushgo clearly says that he was buried in a grave dug into a chabutra that bedil had got built for that very purpose ten years earlier.
      Sirajuddin Ali Khan Arzu, another contemporary, gives the 4th of Safar as the date of the annual ‘urs. While Dargah Quli Khan, who came to Delhi only in 1738, mentions that the ‘urs was held on the 3rd. It’s quite possible that the ceremonies began the night of the 3d and concluded the next morning, at the approximate time of Bedil’s death. He also implies that the grave was well maintained.
      Some other, non-contemporary, later sources have mentioned the 3rd as the date of actual death. Their confusion is obvious.

      Hasan Nizami, in 1941, translated Dargah Quli Khan’s book into Urdu. Curious about Bedil and the fact of his grave being unknown to anyone in Delhi, he published a query in his magazine (where the translation also appeared). He received one response. here is what he wrote in re the matter to Dr. Abdul Ghani, as reported by the latter:

      “On reading [Nizami’s] note, Maulana Shah Sulaiman Sahib [of] Phulwari wrote to him that the tomb was in front of the Old Fort and in the vicinity of the tomb of Hazrat Malik Nur-ud-Din Yar-e-Parran. The Maulana [i,e, Nizami] went there. No vestige of the tomb was left, but he says he discovered the site. A request was then made to the present Nizam Asif Jah VII, who remitted Rs. 2,000 and the tomb with a marble tomb-stone and low enclosure of bricks was rebuilt. The inscription on it reads . . . ‘The tomb of Mirza Abdul Qadir Bedil. Date of death: 3rd Safar, 1133 A.H. (Necessary repairs and constructions made in 1359 A.H. through the royal regards of His Highness Asif Jah VII, the ruler of the Deccan).” (pp114-15)

      2. Hayat-i-Bedil Aur Digar Mazamin by Dr. Amanat, Allahabad, 1980.

      He has a long essay on the life and death of Bedil, entitled “Hayat-i-Bedil” (Bedil’s Life).

      He quotes Khushgo about Bedil’s house that was bought for him by Nawab Shukrallah Khan. It was “outside the Delhi Darwaza and the Shahar-panah (Delhi Gate and the City Wall), in muhalla Khekariyan and beside Guzar Ghat, [and was known as the haveli of] Lutf Ali.”

      The annual celebration is described in sufficient detail by several eye-witnesses, including Khushgo and Arzu and Dargah Quli Khan, in that chronological order. Apparently it was a big event in Delhi’s cultural/literary life.

      According to Dr. Amanat, the last mention of the grave and the ceremony is dated 1771. (p. 75) By then Delhi had been plundered over and over again, and its elite and poets were leaving it increasing number for safer and more rewarding places. On such person was Ghulam Hamdani Mushafi, who left Delhi and found refuge in Lucknow. In his tazkira (account) of the Persian poets of his age, he includes Bedil ‘for blessing,’ but adds ten years to his date of death (1143 AH). He also writes: “Bedil’s grave was built in his house which is now only a deserted ruin.” Mushafi wrote his book in 1199 AH (1784-85).

      Several sources mention the names of two shagirds of Bedil and the son of a cousin of Bedil who organized these ceremonies. The son of the cousin is described as a lout who had little of Bedil’s spark, but earned a good living selling the various pills and pastes that Bedil used to make for himself and his friends.

      3. The Wikipedia entry mentions two Afghan scholars. It claims that Saljuqi ‘proved’ that the grave was in Kabul. He does not do so; in fact he bases his assertion entirely and exclusively on the other scholar, Mohammed Da’ud, whose book I have not been able to locate. The two scholars suggest that Bedil was a Barlas Turk; he in fact belonged to another tribe called Arlas, as firmly concluded by Dr Abdul Ghani. Certainly, if the bones had been removed seven months after Bedil’s death, as the Afghan scholar is reported to have established there would have followed a big uproar among Bedil’s disciples and admirers, and the annual ceremony would not have continued for fifty years.

      4. I must however express my greatest admiration and gratitude to Afghan scholars and literati for keeping Bedil alive for us and for making excellent editions of his books. We have yet to do that in India and Pakistan.

      Share this:

      • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
      • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

      Related Posts

      Nasheman -e Zil-e Ilahi and the Orpheus panel:
      Hazrat-E-Dilli

      Nasheman -e Zil-e Ilahi and the Orpheus panel:

      by Rana Safvi
      May 6, 2025
      The Mughlani and the Dacoit
      Hazrat-E-Dilli

      The Mughlani and the Dacoit

      by Rana Safvi
      February 17, 2025
      Makabbar in the Jama Masjid, Delhi
      Hazrat-E-Dilli

      Makabbar in the Jama Masjid, Delhi

      by Rana Safvi
      February 13, 2025
      Leave Comment
      Twitter Facebook Instagram Youtube
      Rana Safvi

      Come, explore and fall in love the Beauties of Delhi (Dilli ki Ranaiya’n) and the World with me, Rana Safvi

      I have a masters in medieval history from the prestigious Centre for Advanced Studies, Dept. of History, AMU. A firm believer in our Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb, I am passionate about gaining and sharing knowledge and these days I am doing it via the social media platform.

      Browse by Category

      Select Category
        Currently Playing

        © 2023 Rana Safvi - A blog Exploring Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb of India, website handcrafted by Abu Sufiyan.

        No Result
        View All Result
        • Home
        • About
        • Book & Publication
        • Culture & Heritage
          • Our Cultural Heritage
          • Sufi saints
        • Food
        • Hazrat-E-Dilli
        • Rana’s Space
          • Walks & Talks
          • Rana’s Space
          • Sher o Sukhan
        • Travel
        • Contact Me

        © 2023 Rana Safvi - A blog Exploring Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb of India, website handcrafted by Abu Sufiyan.

         

        Loading Comments...
         

        You must be logged in to post a comment.