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

THE HERMIT OF LAHORE
in particular during the reign of Sultan Ibrahim (1059–99) Lahore
acquired fame in the subcontinent as a major centre of Muslim culture
and scholarship. Suffice it to say that it was in Lahore that al-Hujwiri’s
younger contemporaries, the famous poets Abul Faraj Runi and
Ma‘sud Sa‘d-i Salman lived and created their works in Persian.
The author of Kashf al-mah˛jūb was not the first Muslim mystic to
settle down in Lahore. 15 Having taken up residence in the western
outskirts of the old city, near Bhatti Darwaza gate, he started teaching
numerous disciples, built a mosque, which has not survived to the
present day (and by the side of which he was subsequently buried),
and worked on his book, which brought him everlasting fame.
Nothing reliable is known about his subsequent life in Lahore.
Soon after al-Hujwiri’s death his mazār became the favourite
place of seclusion and meditation for his disciples and followers. The
initial construction of the tomb is ascribed to the already mentioned
Sultan Ibrahim Ghaznavi as well as to a private person, Hajji Nur
Muhammad Faqir, who supposedly erected a dome over the burialvault.
It was Emperor Akbar, during whose reign Lahore became
the Mughal capital, who finally completed the construction of the
architectural complex of the dargāh. However, the tomb continued
constantly to be reconstructed and expanded till recently. Its spacious
arched riwāq, where there is a mosque and halls for majālis, has been
built in our times, and the massive silver doors are a gift of the last
Shah of Iran.
With transformation into a popular saint, al-Hujwiri, as usually
happens, lost his original name and acquired the nickname Data
Ganjbakhsh, consisting of two synonymous parts: dātā (Sanskrit for
‘giver’, or ‘generous’) and ganjbakhsh (Persian for ‘generous’, or
‘lavish’). However, in everyday life he is called by a still shorter
name – Dātā S˝āh˛ib. Combination of synonyms of Sanskrit and
Persian origin in the saint’s nickname gives an indication of the
social environment of his devotees as well as of the type of sainthood:
Punjabi Hindus venerated him as much as the Muslims, and boundless
generosity was considered to be the peculiarity of his baraka,
according to which Data Sahib met any wish whatsoever of the
suppliant.
Dara Shikoh, who often visited the tomb of the saint, has written:
‘It is common knowledge that here is satisfied the requirement of
everyone, who in the course of forty nights from Thursday to Friday
or on forty days consecutively circumambulates this venerated tomb’
(Dara Shikoh 1965: 148). The inscription on the saint’s tomb also
says more or less the same:
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