Tomb of Bakhtiyar Kaki, Mehrauli, Delhi. Khwaja Syed Muhammad Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki (born 1173-died 1235) was a renowned Muslim Sufi mystic, saint and scholar of the Chishti Order. He was the disciple and the spiritual successor of Moinuddin Chishti as head of the Chishti order. Before him the Chishti order in India was confined to Ajmer and Nagaur. He played a major role in establishing the order securely in Delhi. His dargah in Mehrauli, the oldest dargah in Delhi, is the venue of his annual Urs. His most famous disciple and spiritual successor was Fariduddin Ganjshakar, who in turn became the spiritual master of Delhis noted Sufi saint, Nizamuddin Auliya, who himself was the spiritual master of Amir Khusro and Nasiruddin Chirag-e-Delhi. The influence of Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki on Sufism in India was immense. As he continued and developed the traditional ideas of universal brotherhood and charity within the Chisti order, a new dimension of Islam started opening up in India which had hitherto not been present. The darbaar shrine of Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki has also been the venue of the annual Phoolwalon-ki-sair (a festival of flower-sellers) in autumn, which has now become an important inter-faith festival of Delhi. The festival has its origins in 1812, when Queen Mumtaz Mahal, wife of the Mughal Emperor, Akbar Shah II (r. 1806-1837) made a vow to offer a chadar and flower pankha at the Dargah and a pankha at the Yogmaya Mandir, also at Mehrauli, if her son Mirza Jehangir, who after inviting the wrath of Sir Archibald Seton, the then British Resident of the Red Fort, was exiled to Allahabad, returned safely. And as the legend goes, he did, and so began the tradition henceforth.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 11:19:43 +0000
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