Visit to a Dargah

Ajmer was very different from the tourist sites we had visited during our tour through Rajasthan. We were offloaded from our bus three kilometres away from the Dargah, our area of interest. A share auto rickshaw shunted us to the crowded street where the Dargah was located. The same auto was to take us back to the bus after two hours. We walked along the narrow road among jostling pilgrims heading our way to the main entrance. The 13^th century Dargah was virtually a tomb of a Sufi saint called Moinuddin Chishti whose prayers supposed to have granted a descendant to King Akbar. It is recorded in the history that the king and the queen traversed on foot all the way from Agra every year to get the blessings of the saint. The white marble structure bore signs of Mogal architecture. King Shah Jahan had erected a huge gateway to the Sufi shrine. None of the tourists were allowed to enter the shrine without covering their heads with white kerchiefs. Obviously some young boys were making quick change with their white wares. Everyone was obliged to wash their bare feet before they ventured into the holiest enclosure which housed the remains of the Saint. Some of us came out of this very crowded structure with intimidating experience of losing their money. However, we didn’t stay long enough inside the shrine to learn the details of history and soon found our way out.