The saint who chose Ajmer
He arrived with almost nothing, a teacher from Persia with a few companions, at a time when Ajmer was the seat of a Rajput king. Eight centuries later his name is spoken with love in a dozen languages.
Born in Sistan: Moinuddin Chishti was born around the middle of the twelfth century in what is now eastern Iran.
A seeker: orphaned young, he gave away his inheritance and travelled through the great centres of the Islamic world in search of learning and of God.
His master: he became the disciple of Khwaja Usman Harooni, of the Chishti order, named for the small town of Chisht near Herat.
At a glance
- Built
- Over seven centuries; tomb dome dated 1532
- Built by
- Sultans of Delhi and Malwa, Mughal emperors, the Nizam
- Open
- From before dawn, to every faith
- Allow
- A morning, or sunset and an hour of qawwali
- Best time
- An ordinary weekday morning, October to March
- Photography
- Not in the tomb or during prayers
- Getting there
- On foot up the Dargah Bazaar; no cars near the gate
- To Ajmer: he came to India at the end of the twelfth century and settled in Ajmer, then a Chauhan Rajput city.
- His life there: he lived simply, taught and served the poor until his death in March 1236.
- Gharib Nawaz: the people of Ajmer called him the benefactor of the poor, and the name has stayed with him.
- His teaching: the highest devotion is to relieve others' suffering and feed the hungry, to be generous like a river, warm like the sun and hospitable like the earth.
- Away from courts: the Chishtis kept away from kings, refused gifts from rulers and lived among ordinary people.
- Sama: they embraced listening to music and poetry as a way of drawing closer to God, which is why qawwali grew up around their shrines.
- His successors: Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, then Baba Farid, then Nizamuddin Auliya, whose shrine still fills with qawwali every Thursday in Delhi.
- Everyone welcome: Muslim families, Hindu farmers, Sikh pilgrims, film stars, soldiers, students before exams and mothers with sick children all move slowly towards the same tomb.
- Our grandmother: she was one of them, and she would want us to say so.
Sultans, emperors and the Nizam
Most great shrines were built by one patron. Ajmer Sharif was built by many, over seven hundred years, each adding a gate, a mosque or a cauldron in gratitude.
A modest grave at first: in the first centuries after the saint's death, the tomb was simple.
The sultans: the sultans of Delhi and later of Malwa, the kingdom to the south, added buildings. The Buland Darwaza is credited to a sultan of Malwa.
The dome: the white marble dome over the tomb carries an inscription dating it to 1532.
Facts to know
- Tomb dome
- 1532, by inscription
- Akbar's deg
- 1568
- Jahangir's deg
- 1614
- Shah Jahan's mosque
- 1637
- Nizam Gate
- 1911
- Akbar's devotion: the emperor came on pilgrimage many times, and after the birth of his son Salim, later Jahangir, he is remembered for walking from Agra to give thanks.
- Akbar's gifts: the great cauldron, given in 1568 after his conquest of Chittorgarh, and a rebuilt sanctum later in his reign.
- Fatehpur Sikri: his wish for a son had also led him to another Chishti saint, Salim Chishti, at Fatehpur Sikri, which is why the two shrines are spoken of together.
- Jahangir: he lived in Ajmer for about three years and gave the smaller cauldron in 1614.
- Shah Jahan: he built the white marble mosque in 1637.
- Jahanara: his daughter, herself a devoted follower of the Chishtis, added the platform and marble veranda known as the Begumi Dalan.
- Many later patrons: Rajput maharajas, Maratha rulers and the nawabs of northern India.
- The Nizam: in 1911 Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam of Hyderabad, gave the grand main gateway that bears his name.
- Survival: Ajmer passed between Mughal, Rajput, Maratha and finally British hands in 1818, and every ruler found it wiser to honour the shrine than challenge it.
- The wider story: our journal on Mughal and Rajput history and our Ajmer page.
Through the gates to the tomb
The dargah is a sequence of gates and courtyards, each a little quieter and holier than the last. This is the order in which most pilgrims move through it.
The Dargah Bazaar
The approach: a lane of shops so narrow and crowded that cars give up long before the gate.
- The stalls: red and gold chadars, embroidered cloths offered over the grave, baskets of rose petals, prayer caps, rosaries, attar perfumes and tins of sohan halwa.
- Buying an offering: walk slowly. Your guide will help you buy roses and, if you wish, a chadar, without haggling over a sacred offering.
The Nizam Gate
The main gateway: tall and pale with a high arch, the gift of the last Nizam of Hyderabad in 1911.
- Shoes and heads: leave your shoes at a stall outside and cover your head. Security staff check bags at the entrance.
- The saint's house: from here people around you will lower their voices.
The Shahjahani Gate and the drums
From Shah Jahan's reign: the next gate.
- The naqqar khana: the drum house above it, where drums are beaten at set times, an old Mughal way of marking the hours of a royal or holy place.
- Stand still: if you hear them as you pass. It is the shrine's own heartbeat.
The Buland Darwaza
The high gate: built by a sultan of Malwa, it leads into the main courtyards.
- The flag: the Urs begins in the month of Rajab, and the flag is raised above this gate in the days before it.
- Not Akbar's: it is a different and older gate from the famous Buland Darwaza at Fatehpur Sikri, though visitors often confuse the two.
The courtyard of the degs
Two cauldrons: enormous iron degs set over fire pits, the larger given by Akbar, the smaller by Jahangir.
- Offerings: pilgrims drop coins and notes into them.
- Cooking days: on many days, above all during the Urs, they are filled with rice, ghee, sugar, nuts and saffron and cooked through the night, then shared as a blessing.
The Mehfil Khana and the Langar Khana
The Mehfil Khana: built in 1888, the hall for the great qawwali gatherings, especially during the Urs.
- The Langar Khana: the community kitchen nearby, where food is prepared for the poor.
- What the Chishtis valued most: music for the soul and food for the hungry.
The tomb of the saint
At the centre: under its white marble dome, enclosed by marble screens and silver-plated railings, through a doorway framed in silver.
- Inside: the grave is heaped with chadars and rose petals, and the crowd is dense and slow.
- The khadims: the hereditary custodians guide pilgrims in, help lay offerings, pray on their behalf and touch them with a peacock-feather fan in blessing.
- A few moments: that is all you will have. Use them to be still.
The Jannati Darwaza
The gate of paradise: a silver door on one side of the tomb.
- Rarely open: closed most of the year, opened on a few special occasions, above all during the Urs, when pilgrims queue for hours.
- The belief: many hold that passing through it brings the promise of paradise.
The mosques and the Begumi Dalan
Shah Jahan's mosque: white marble, elegant and calm, with a long row of arches.
- The Akbari mosque: red sandstone, linked with Akbar's reign.
- The Begumi Dalan: close to the tomb, the marble veranda associated with Jahanara Begum.
- Places of prayer: walk along the edges, never in front of someone praying.
The Jhalra
- At the back: a natural tank fed from the hill behind, used for ablutions before prayer.
- A pause: it is quieter here, a good place to rest before walking back out through the crowds.
The degs, and food as a blessing
Before dawn on a cooking day, men in thick cotton wraps climb a ladder and stand at the rim of a cauldron big enough to hold them. Below, a fire has been burning all night.
The most famous objects: Akbar's deg is big enough for grown men to stand inside.
Sponsored cookings: pilgrims who have had a wish granted may sponsor one.
Facts to know
- Larger deg
- Akbar's, 1568
- Smaller deg
- Jahangir's, 1614
- The food
- Tabarruk, a sweet rice
- Always
- Vegetarian
- Sponsored by
- Pilgrims whose wish was granted
- The recipe: rice, ghee, sugar, dry fruits and spices, cooked slowly over a wood fire.
- Tabarruk: the sweet rice is a blessed gift, shared with everyone who comes, rich or poor, Muslim or not.
- Why vegetarian matters: every pilgrim, including the many Hindus and Jains, can accept it without hesitation, one of the ways the dargah has kept its doors open to all.
- Emptying the deg: men from families who have done this for generations climb into the hot cauldron, wrapped in cloth, and scoop the rice out in buckets.
- What it is like: fast, loud and astonishing to watch.
- If you are there: stand well back, let the pilgrims reach in first, and accept a little rice if offered. It is given in the saint's name, and it would be unkind to refuse.
The lamps at dusk and the qawwali after
Late in the afternoon the courtyards begin to fill. At the moment of sunset the drums sound, the khadims carry great candles towards the tomb, and thousands of people fall silent together.
Dua-e-Roshni, the prayer of light
Every evening at sunset: the khadims carry large candles into the shrine to light its lamps, reciting prayers, while the crowd stands in silence.
- Women: those not permitted in the inner area at that moment wait in the courtyard.
- A few minutes: but the most moving moment of the day here.
- How: arrive well before sunset, find a place along the edge and simply watch.
Qawwali in the courtyards
After the lamps: the qawwals begin.
- The music: Sufi devotional song in Urdu, Persian, Hindi and the old Hindavi of Amir Khusrau, to harmonium, tabla and hand-clapping.
- How it builds: a lead singer sets out a verse, the chorus answers, and over half an hour the song rises from calm to ecstatic repetition.
- Sit and listen: on the marble with the pilgrims. You do not need to understand a word.
Thursday nights
- The eve of the holy day: Thursday evening brings the largest crowds of the ordinary week and the most fervent qawwali.
- For space: come on a Monday or Tuesday evening, when the music is just as sincere and the courtyard calmer.
Giving to the musicians
The gesture: listeners hold a note above the singers' heads and hand it to them, or place it before the harmonium, when a verse moves them.
- Not a fee: it is appreciation. Your guide will show you how if you wish to join in.
- Read more: our page on folk music in Rajasthan explains how qawwali sits beside the state's other musical traditions.
The Urs, the saint's union with God
Sufis do not mourn a saint's death. They call it his urs, his wedding, the day his soul was united with the Beloved, and they celebrate it every year.
When: the Urs begins in the month of Rajab, and the flag is raised over the Buland Darwaza in the days before it.
A moving date: because the Islamic calendar follows the moon, the Urs moves about eleven days earlier every year, and after the mid-2020s it will move steadily back through the autumn.
Check your year: always confirm the dates before planning.
Facts to know
- Length
- Six days
- Month
- Rajab, the seventh Islamic month
- Ends
- On the sixth of Rajab, with the Qul
- Shifts
- About eleven days earlier each year
- Mid-2020s
- Around the turn of the year
- What happens: the Jannati Darwaza is opened, the degs are cooked again and again, and qawwali in the Mehfil Khana and courtyards goes on through the night.
- Chadars from everywhere: they arrive from across South Asia, including, by long custom, one sent each year by India's prime minister.
- The Qul: the closing prayer on the sixth day ends the celebration.
- The crowds: pilgrims come from every Indian state and from Pakistan, Bangladesh and beyond, and the lanes become a single slow river of people.
- Our advice: it is profound to witness but not easy. For most guests we suggest an ordinary day, and the Urs only with a guide who knows the crowds.
- Read more: our page on the Urs at Ajmer Sharif explains how the days unfold.
Reading the buildings, in plain words
There is no single architect's plan here. The dargah grew like a family house, one room at a time, and that is exactly how to read it.
What a dargah is: literally a threshold or court, the shrine built over the grave of a Sufi saint.
What it holds: the tomb, usually under a dome, with spaces for pilgrims, prayer, music, cooking and rest. Ajmer Sharif has all of these, built by patrons who never met.
- Red sandstone: the Akbari mosque is typical of Akbar's age, the same stone as his forts at Agra and Fatehpur Sikri.
- White marble: Shah Jahan's mosque belongs to his more refined taste, the taste of the Taj Mahal, with smooth surfaces, cusped arches and restrained ornament.
- The Nizam Gate: from 1911, grand and confident in the manner of the early twentieth century.
- The fixed point: the tomb's marble dome, with its gilded finial, around which everything else gathered.
- Held together by use: every space is crowded, worn smooth by bare feet and still doing what it was built to do.
- Not a museum: visitors used to the hush of galleries can find it chaotic. Think of it as a monument that has never stopped working.
How to visit with respect
The dargah welcomes everyone, without exception. It also asks everyone, without exception, to follow its customs. These are the ones that matter.
Cover your head: a scarf, cap or handkerchief is fine, and caps are sold in the bazaar outside.
Shoes: leave them at a shoe stall or with your driver. Thin socks help on hot or cold marble.
Dress: modestly, with arms and legs covered. Loose cotton is most comfortable in the crowds.
Facts to know
- Head
- Covered, men and women
- Shoes
- Off before the gate
- Dress code
- Arms and legs covered
- Bags
- Searched; carry little
- Offering
- Roses, perhaps a chadar
- Carry little: large bags, cameras and some other items may be refused. Leave valuables at your hotel.
- Photography: never inside the tomb or during prayers. Ask in the courtyards, and put your phone away during the Dua-e-Roshni and the qawwali.
- Offerings and donations: a modest offering is enough. The khadims may ask for a donation, so agree it beforehand or let our guide handle it quietly.
- Prayer: never walk in front of someone praying, or sit with your feet towards the tomb.
- Women: some inner areas are restricted at certain times, such as the Dua-e-Roshni. Follow the khadims. Our page on travel for women in Rajasthan has more.
- Crowds: near the tomb they are very dense. Hold children's hands, keep your bag in front and watch your pockets.
- Mobility: the lanes are steep and uneven, with no car access near the gate. Tell us in advance and we will plan the quietest hour and the shortest route.
- Elsewhere: our guide to faith and sacred sites in Rajasthan covers etiquette at other shrines.
The best hour, day and season
At five in the morning the courtyards are cool and the cooks are stirring the degs. At nine on a Thursday night you can barely move. Choose your hour carefully.
Early morning
- The calmest time: the gates open before dawn, the marble is cool and the crowds are thinner.
- The rewards: you may see the degs being prepared, reach the tomb without a long wait and sit in the courtyards in near quiet.
Sunset and after
- The most atmospheric: come for the Dua-e-Roshni and stay for an hour of qawwali.
- How: arrive early for a good place, with a guide to steer you through the crowds afterwards.
Midday
- The hardest time: especially from April to June, when the marble burns and the crowds are thick.
- Instead: rest at your hotel and come back in the evening.
The right days
Busiest weekly: Thursday evenings and Fridays.
- Busiest of the year: the days of the Urs and holidays such as the two Eids.
- For a calm first visit: an ordinary weekday morning.
The right season
October to March: the most comfortable, with warm days and cool nights.
- Summer: the heat makes the crowds far harder to bear.
- More detail: our guide to the best time to visit Ajmer.
What most visitors miss
Many visitors push through to the tomb, leave in a rush and remember only the crowd. Slow down, and the dargah shows you something gentler.
Sitting still afterwards
- Twenty minutes: after the tomb, find a place along the courtyard wall and sit.
- Who comes: a grandmother with a sick grandson, a young couple with sweets for a new job, a soldier in uniform. This is the real shrine, and you only see it if you stop.
The threads on the screens
- Thousands of threads: tied to the marble screens, each a wish.
- Giving thanks: when a wish is granted, the pilgrim returns to untie a thread. Our grandmother's threads were among them.
The old mosque up the lane
- Adhai Din ka Jhonpra: a few minutes uphill, begun in 1192, one of India's oldest mosques, built with pillars from earlier temples and a Sanskrit college.
- Most never climb: go in the soft morning light.
The sohan halwa
- Ajmer's sweet: dense and nutty, taken home by pilgrims as a blessing. It keeps well.
- Buy it on the way out: carrying it through the crowds on the way in is a mistake you will make only once.
What to pair with the dargah
The dargah sits in the old city at the foot of Taragarh hill, close to most of Ajmer's other sights, and Pushkar is fifteen minutes away.
Adhai Din ka Jhonpra
- The great early mosque: up the lane, where Hindu, Jain and Islamic craftsmanship meet in the same stones.
- When: straight after the dargah in the morning.
Ana Sagar and the Baradari
- The lake: twelfth century, with Shah Jahan's marble pavilions on its shore.
- When: the late afternoon, before returning for the evening ritual. Our guide to things to do in Ajmer has more.
Pushkar, over the hill
- Fifteen kilometres: over the Nag Pahar ridge lies Pushkar and its sacred lake.
- A great day: a morning at Brahma's temple and an evening at the dargah.
A journey of faiths
- Our route: the sacred Rajasthan journey links the dargah with Pushkar, Nathdwara and Ranakpur, the great Sufi, Hindu and Jain shrines in one unhurried trip.
Where to stay for the dargah
Ajmer has comfortable hotels but no grand palace hotel of its own. Most of our guests sleep a short drive away and come in for the quiet hours.
Pushkar: its resorts, among them the Westin Pushkar Resort and Spa and Ananta Spa and Resort, sit in quiet countryside with pools and gardens.
The rhythm: the dargah at dawn, back for lunch and a rest, then a drive in for the evening ritual and qawwali.
Facts to know
- Calmest
- Pushkar resorts
- Between the towns
- Pratap Mahal, Pushkar bypass
- For a palace
- Kishangarh, about 30 km north-east
- Pratap Mahal: part of the Taj group's SeleQtions collection, on the Pushkar bypass road among the Aravalli hills.
- Comparing them: our guide to luxury stays in Pushkar and our comparison of luxury hotels in Ajmer.
- A palace: Kishangarh has a lake palace run by its former ruling family, and it is the closest stay to Kishangarh Airport.
- A day or two: our Ajmer itinerary shows how to fit in the dargah.
Local tip
Visit twice if you can: once at dawn for the quiet, and once at sunset for the lamps and the music. They feel like two different places.
