A court in Ajmer on Wednesday issued notices to the Union Minority Affairs Ministry, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and the Ajmer Dargah Committee seeking their response to a petition that sought a physical survey of the renowned Dargah Sharif. In the legal petition, Hindu Sena chief Vishnu Gupta claimed that the mausoleum of 13th-century Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti was originally a Shiva temple. What does the evidence provided by Gupta and books on Ajmer suggest?
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In his petition, Gupta also demanded that the Ajmer Dargah be declared the ‘Sankat Mochan Mahadev Temple’ and called for “Hindu worship to be reinstated” at the site.
To back his claim and demand, Gupta and his lawyer, Yogesh Siroja, referred to a book by Har Bilas Sarda (1867–1955), an Ajmer-based judge-turned-politician. Gupta alleges that Sarda, in a 1910 publication, “wrote about the presence of a Hindu temple beneath the dargah”.
In this context, it’s worth taking a look at the book by Har Bilas Sarda that Gupta is referring to and what observations the author made in it. Of equal significance are other books that delve into the history of Ajmer and its renowned dargah, also referred to as Ajmer Dargah.
WHAT HAR BILAS SARDA’S BOOK SAYS ABOUT AJMER DARGAH
The 1910 book cited by Vishnu Gupta is Har Bilas Sarda’s ‘Ajmer: Historical And Descriptive’, which was published by the Scottish Mission Industries Company Limited in 1911.
In his book, which serves as an encyclopaedia on Ajmer, Sarda talks about an underground cellar and a “tradition” connected to “Mahadeva” at the Ajmer Dargah.
“As already stated, the remains of the Khwaja lie in an underground cellar, covered with a few bricks, several feet below this tomb. The tomb is in white marble inlaid with pieces of coloured stone, and it is said that near the place corresponding to the heart is fixed a rubylike stone of the size of an eight-anna silver piece,” wrote Sarda in Ajmer: Historical And Descriptive.
“Tradition says that inside the cellar is the image of Mahadeva in a temple, on which sandal used to be placed every day by a Brahman family and still maintained by the Dargah as gharhyali (bell striker),” he wrote.
Sarda, however, doesn’t shed more light on the “destruction” of the shrine.
SHRINE OF MAHADEVA, LINGAM HIDDEN BY LEAVES AND RUBBISH, SAYS 1841 BOOK
British historian PM Currie delves into the history of Ajmer Dargah in his 1989 book, The shrine and cult of Mu’in al-din Chisti of Ajmer.
Currie cites RH Irvine’s work, ‘Some Account of the General and Medical Topography of Ajmeer (1841), and notes in the footnotes about an “ancient sacred shrine of Mahadeva” that existed during the time of Sufi Saint of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.
“At one place there was an ancient shrine sacred to Mahadeva, the lingam of which was hidden by the leaves and rubbish. To this wood the Khwaja had retired to contemplate for forty days; and every day he hung up his small mussuq of water on a branch of a tree overhanging the lingam. The water constantly dropped on this. At length Mahadeva became highly pleased, both at the sanctity and unexpected libation of the saint, and spoke out of the stone commending his virtue. From this tradition (related by one of the most learned khadums) the Hindus equally venerate the Khwaja with the Mahomedans,” noted Currie in his 1989 book, citing RH Irvine’s work.
Then, Currie, gave another version. “The present writer [Irvine] heard a further variation on the same theme; this time the lingam was located beneath the grave of Muunaldin,” Currie, the civil servant-scholar, wrote in his 1841 document.
This document hasn’t been cited by the petitioners seeking a physical survey of the dargah.
HINDU ELEMENTS IN AJMER DARGAH’S BULAND DARWAZA
Har Bilas Sarda, in his 1911 book, Ajmer: Historical And Descriptive, also notes about spotting Hindu elements on the north side of the 75-feet gateway of the Darwaza, called the Buland Darwaza (not to be confused with Buland Darwaza in Fatehpur Sikri, Agra).
“It [Buland Darwaza] is 75 feet from the ground to the top of the two chatrees over the gate. Towards the north, this gate is supported on either side by three-storied chatrees of carved stone, the spoils of some Hindu building. The materials and the style of these chatrees plainly betray their Hindu origin. Their excellent surface carving is unfortunately hidden from view by coats of colour and whitewashing, which should be removed. It is also stated that these chatrees and the gate — which is of red sandstone, (raised higher and arched by Mussalmans) with the eastern cell continuation of it — formed part of an old Jain temple, which was demolished,” writes Sarda.
After the second Battle of Terrain in 1192, Ajmer, along with a large part of north India, fell into the hands of Muhammad Ghori.
After Ghori’s death in 1206, Mamluks or slaves he used to rule parts of India established their direct rule. Qutubuddin Aibak was the first, and the founder of the Slave Dynasty.
The construction of the Ajmer Dargah started during the reign of Mamluk Sultan Iltutmish (1211-1236), while several additions were made during the rule of Mughal emperors Humayun and Shah Jahan.This is the decades-old controversy surrounding Ajmer Dargah that has made national headlines because of the petition by Vishnu Gupta. The annual Urs of Ajmer Dargah is popular across the world and will be held in January. The dargah, visited by people of all communities and faiths, is held up as an example of syncretism in India. The next hearing on Gupta’s petition for survey at Ajmer Dargah is scheduled for December 20.
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