Delhi, a city of many civilizations and much history keeps me on a road to never ending discovery. I have lived here all my life and still manage to discover something new once in a while. And sometimes, its right in my backyard!!
The Hazrat Nizamuddin heritage complex, which includes the famous Nizamuddin Dargah is just a stone throw away from where I live. Though I pass by this area almost daily, I never got around to exploring it, till a group of my friends decided to go on a heritage walk and I tagged along.
The Hazrat Nizamuddin Walk turned out to be a walk of love faith and some very soulful music.

The Hazrat Nizamumddin heritage complex comprises of a large area housing various monuments in the Nizamuddin area. We started our walk at the Chausath Khamba tomb, where our guide told us that this tomb was built by Mirza Aziz Koka, son of Ataga Khan, as a mausoleum for himself, at the time when Mughal Emperor Jahangir ruled from Delhi. At present, the tomb is undergoing renovation works and is closed to viewing from inside.

We then proceeded to the other monuments, the first of which was the famous urdu poet Mirza Ghalib’s tomb, which we again could not view from inside as it was closed by the time we reached. But we managed to get a good view from outside.

As we started going further towards the Dargah complez, the lanes got narrower & congested and I was thankful that I had chosen to come with friends, without whom I would have been lost in the maze!! But walking the narrow lanes had its own charm,  in the middle of an urban city, it felt like walking the lanes of a charming village!!

We came to another tomb, rumored to be a kin of Mughal emperor Akbar’s. Admiring the tomb and its intricate work, we listened to the story narrated by our guide on Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya.
Nizamuddin Auliya was one of the revered sufi saints of the chisti order and was known as Hazrat nizamuddin. He stressed upon the element of love as a means of realisation of God. For him his love of God implied a love of humanity. He settled in Delhi and established Nizamuddin basti. It is said his popularity matched the mughal emperor’s at the time.

Just as our guide was finishing narrating us tales about Hazrat nizamuddin and his most devoted disciple Amir Khusro, we heard strains of qawwali (sifi singing) from nearby. The guide told us that since it was a thursday, known as Jumma Raat, the qawwals (singers) would be singing all night tonight…..we then hurried towards the main Dargah complex, on the way clicking some colorful shots of the streets decked with religious offerings for devotees on sale – chadars, flowers and sweets.

Entering the dargah, we saw a sea of humanity, people of all creeds and races assembled there. It was an amazing feeling!! The qawwals (singers) had started singing and it was a most soulful experience to be standing there, listening to the songs.
The tomb of Jahan Ara, the daughter of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan is also located inside the complex and is a quaint structure.
 The qawwals were in full form and we stood there mesmerized by the soulful rendition of many poems & prose by the sufi saints. We forgot all about time and were completely engulfed in the feeling of love……the love of humanity preached by the sufi saint.

At last, it was time to leave and I left with a feeling of lightness and happiness within!!
I was so glad to have made the journey to this wonderful place…and I resolved to come here again

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24 Comments

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  1. Thanks for taking us on this Journey ! Lovely snaps ! Hazarat Nizammudin has been on my list for a long time but even though I live right in Delhi I haven't been able to do it !

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  4. the space, the sufi music, the enchantment, the fragrance of lobaan, the sheer purity and calmness makes anyone drawn to it. beutiful pics, seems like a lovely place, nice post.

    xoxo
    bhakti
    thanks for dropping by,,

    new post up

    Reply

  5. the sufi music, the fragrance of lobaan, the marvellous architecture and the sheer purity and calmness of such a place transforms you in another world completely where you are calm from within.. the snaps are beautiful, love the post ,, myself big fan of sufi music …

    xoxo
    bhakti

    thanks for dropping by

    new post up ..

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  16. I could very well feel the pure essence of the place through your post, beautiful narration and wonderful pictures, many thanks for sharing 🙂

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  22. the architecture and detail on those structures is beautiful! and i liked your descriptions of the feeling of unity and soulfulness. 🙂

    thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! blessings to you!

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