Muslim Saints of South Asia: The eleventh to ... - blog blog blog

THE SPIRITUAL SOVEREIGN OF MULTAN
A few years back its restorers were honoured with the prestigious
Agha Khan Architectural Award. However, the interior of the building
bears the obvious imprint of later alterations, in particular, the saint’s
mazār, the stone balustrade around it and the marble canopy, which
date from 1930. The only original detail surviving in the interior is
the fretted wooden mih˝rāb in the western wall, one of the oldest in
South Asia.
Not far from Ruknuddin’s mausoleum, on the same fort mound,
is his grandfather’s tomb, built even before the death of Baha’uddin
Zakaria’s in 1262, and, what is noteworthy is that it was at his own
expense, which is yet another evidence of financial independence,
unique for a dervish. Probably the history of the Multani architectural
style begins with Baha’uddin Zakariya, since his tomb also consists
of two tiers, with only the lower one having a traditional square base,
whereas the upper one is octagonal. The material and décor of the
tomb are the same – bricks and blue ceramics. It features the earliest
example of blue tilework in the subcontinent. In the year 1848,
during the siege of Multan, the cupola and part of the upper tier were
destroyed by the British cannon shells, but were restored later. In
1952 a spacious brick verandah with a painted wooden ceiling was
added to the mausoleum, from where the massive carved wooden
doors lead into the small burial chamber. There, under a fretted
wooden canopy the mortal remains of the saint and his son Sadruddin
are laid to rest.
Behind Baha’uddin Zakariya’s tomb a mosque has subsequently
been built. It is less than three feet from the back wall of the small
Hindu temple of Prahlad Mandir. Its presence inside the dargāh
enclosure proves that in the Indian subcontinent a Muslim such as
Baha’uddin Zakariya, who was most rigorous and intolerant to
‘unbelievers’, is not immune to being in close proximity to kāfirs,
even if posthumously. It is supposed that the temple was built on the
site of an earlier sanctuary of the Sun god, about whose legendary
image – a golden statue, embellished with jewels – the Chinese
traveller Xuan Zang had written at length when he visited Multan in
the year 614. The statue is mentioned frequently in books on history
and geography in Arabic (for example in the works of Abul Hasan
‘Ali al-Mas‘udi). The Arab authors erroneously considered it to be
Buddha’s statue. 15
Hundreds of smaller mazārs and graves are scattered around
the mausoleum, some of which are quite recent: all the male
representatives of this vast family in the course of seven hundred
years are being laid to eternal rest in the dargāh in Multan. I, as
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