The shrine
The inscription
Dargah of Hazrat Shah Turkman Shamsul Arifeen Bayabani, famous as Shah Turkman
When one comes to Turkman Darwaza, there’s a small dargah adjacent to the Chandni Mahal Police Chowki. It is known as the dargah of Shah Turkman Bayabani, and people flock to it thinking it is the shrine of the famous thirteenth century saint.
Bashiruddin Ahmad Dehlvi writes that in 1919, there were some unknown graves near the Turkman Darwaza and the Police Chowki. After 1947, many changes took place in the walled city and this was one of them.
The actual shrine of Hazrat Shamsul Arifeen Bayabani, famous as Shah Turkman, is behind the Turkman Darwaza, in an area called Mohalla Qabristan. The saint is also known as Dada Pir.
Shah Turkman was one of the saints who accompanied the army of Sultan Qutbuddin Aibak. His name was Shams-ul Arifeen, and he became famous as Bayabani since he had given up material comforts and lived in seclusion in the forests, away from the cities, though his devotees always surrounded him. He was seventy-eight years old when Hazrat Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki became popular in Delhi.
He died on 19 February 1240, during the reign of Muizuddin Bahram Shah, Sultan Raziya’s successor. It is he who got the mazaar built.
The River Yamuna flowed near the area where he is buried. Though it has been renovated with green tiles, his grave is a simple one under the open sky.
from: “Shahjahanabad: The Living City of Old Delhi” by Rana Safvi.
Turkman Darwaza
