Kwaja Banda Nawaz Dargah

Khwaja Gesudaraz’s dargah complex is a vast enclosure which houses a mosque, madrassa, assembly halls and other facilities. Today, almost six hundred years later the outstanding mausoleum remains a sanctuary of peace that continues to spread the message of tolerance, love and brotherhood.

Inside, the structures are very close to each other and the layout haphazard. I couldn't  get a clear shot of any of the buildings within the complex. So i did something else - I photographed people.

Hazrat Khwaja Banda Nawaz Gesu Daraz  was a famous Sufi saint from India of the Chishti Order, who advocated understanding, tolerance and harmony among various religious groups. He lived till the ripe age of 101.

The saint was once carrying the palanquin of his Master, Shaykh Naseeruddin Chiragh Dilli, on his shoulders. His long locks of hair got entangled in the foot of the palki but he chose not to wince, continuing the journey till the destination. On learning of the incident, the Shaykh recited a couplet conferring upon him the title Gesudaraz, one with long locks, and Bandanawaz, one who comforts.

Bande Nawaz authored about 195 books in Arabic, Persian and Urdu. His magnum opus, Tafseer Multaqat, was compiled into one book very recently. He also composed a book on the Prophet of Islam titled Miraj-al Ashiqin for the instruction of the masses in Dakhni, a South Indian branch of the Urdu language. 

He was the first Sufi to use this vernacular which was elaborated upon by many other Sufi saints of South India in later centuries.He wrote many treatises on the works on Ibn Arabi and Suhrawardi, which made the works of these scholars accessible to Indian scholars and played a major role in influencing later mystical thought.

In the year 1400 AD, Khwaja Gesudaraz visited his father’s tomb in Khuldabad and considered residing there. Meanwhile Firoz Shah, Sultan of the Bahmani Kingdom (r. 1397–1442 AD) invited the mystic to make his home in the capital city of Ahsanabad, now called Gulbarga,

Khwaja Gesudaraz was a true Sufi, who taught love, amity, and devotion to the One God. Mystical love formed the core of his teachings, and for him there is no existence without love. He wrote that God creates love because He has to manifest Himself to Himself. It is man’s duty to strive to reach God through the two special avenues of purification of the soul and absolute contemplation, which meant emptying the heart of all else except the love of God.

People from various walks of life, irrespective of caste and creed, assemble even today to celebrate the urs (death anniversary) which takes place on the 15, 16 and 17 day of Zul-Qa`dah of Muslim calendar at the famous Bande Nawaz dargah in Gulbarga every year. Several hundred thousand devotees from near and far, irrespective of religion and beliefs, gather to seek blessings.

It was Shaykh Burhanuddin, a disciple of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya who first introduced the Chishti Order in the Deccan, but it was Khwaja Gesudaraz’s efforts that turned it into a mass movement.

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