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

THE OLD MAN OF AJMER
and estate manager of the tomb, which in the sixteenth century was
not only a highly respectable but also profitable post. In contrast to
Suhrawardis, Chishtis did not pass on baraka by right of succession
from father to son, and besides that Mu‘inuddin did not leave any
directions regarding his successor in the Ajmer khānqāh. A certain
Khwaja Husain, who was the pīr of Ajmer Sharif in Akbar’s times,
apparently did not enjoy the support of Shaikh Salim Chishti, who
wielded great influence over the Emperor. And, therefore, when the
case was submitted to Akbar for his verdict he delivered quite a
statesman-like judgement: he removed the former pīr and appointed
as the estate manager of the dargāh not a representative of one of
the contending clans but his own official (manșabdār). This story,
narrated by Bada’uni in The Extracts from Chronicles (Muntakhab
at-tawārīkh) is, on the whole, unprecedented, since the questions of
succession and inheritance in Sufi fraternities before and after Akbar
were decided without interference of state authorities.
Emperor Jahangir, who was born in Ajmer, lived here for a full
three years in the palaces of Daulat-khana and Chashma-i-nur, which
were built specially for him. In the year 1614, following his father’s
example, he donated to the dargāh yet another cauldron, in which
food could be cooked for five thousand pilgrims. He also adorned the
saint’s cenotaph with a fence of pure gold, which was replaced by one
made of silver in the reign of thrifty Aurangzeb. The importance
Jahangir attached to Ajmer is obvious, in particular, from the fact that
it was in this town that he accepted the credentials of the first British
ambassador Thomas Roe, who, in the year 1615, was sent to the
Mughal court by King James I.
In the riwāq of the tomb Emperor Shah Jahan, who was also
blessed with his first-born in answer to his prayers in Ajmer, in the
year 1637 built a magnificent mosque with eleven arches of white
marble. He also furnished the complex of the dargāh with yet another
gate: Shahjahani Darwaza, which is more often called Kalima
Darwaza, since Muslim affirmation of faith is carved on it in thulth
script. Even Shah Jahan’s sons Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb had
performed pilgrimage to Ajmer. Mystically gifted Sufi-philosopher
Dara was born in Ajmer and felt a special attachment to this place.
His rival Aurangzeb visited the dargāh for the first time with a
purpose that might be considered expiatory, that is, following the
execution of his elder brother on his orders.
Since in his domains Aurangzeb had proclaimed a ban on samā‘,
attendants of the tomb refused to accept from him the offerings
customary for such an occasion. Then at the time of the next visit to
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