Pilgrims’ progress. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] They are bearing long scraggy beards. They are dressed in turbans, and long kurtas. Their necks are loaded with chains of colourful stones. Their fingers are decked with rings. They form a crowd, but each of them appears to be immersed in his own private world, as if he were utterly alone. These are fakeers. Tonight, they are packed into a tiny courtyard. The courtyard is part of a Sufi shrine. The shrine is barely known in the city. Even so, this dargah in Old Delhi, hidden away in a corner, along the stone walls of Jama Masjid, is among the city’s most rare Sufi shrines. For it is devoted to a woman. Only two

Faith on the Main Lane. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Loud music. Chattering crowds. This evening in Hauz Khas Village could be any evening here. Indeed, it is always the same scene in the fashionable south Delhi destination. The place zealously pulsates to the moment, propelled by the youthful zest of its commerce. It is also timeless, because of its 14th century monuments. While these HKV characteristics have been noted many times over, nobody yet has taken a serious note of the village’s one more crucial aspect—the Shree Hanuman Mandir. HKV has actually two temples. The Shiv Mandir is in a remoter back-lane, and not easily trackable. It is the recently renovated temple of Hanuman ji that gives an assertive character to

In the courtyard of literature, history, architecture, music. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Of all the cities, Delhi has the most Sufi shrines, thereby distinguished as ‘Bais khwaja ki chaukhat’, the threshold of 22 Sufis. The shrines far exceed this metaphoric number of course. The well-known among them are dedicated to saints such as Qutubuddin Bhakhtiyar Kaki, Sheikh Nassiruddin Chirag Dehlvi, and Bibi Fatima Sam, who is Delhi’s only female Sufi saint. This week, a shrine in central Delhi has taken centerstage among all the shrines. The 722nd urs, or death anniversary commemoration, of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya began yesterday. Since a Sufi’s passing is celebrated (not mourned), Nizamuddin’s urs has always been a joyous occasion. Over the recent years, it has

Shrine's people. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] On a recent evening at the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, the qawwal singers were surrounded by a packed audience. Each member of the audience was a human, save for one. She had a tail, and she was seated in the best place, directly in front of the qawwals—see photo. Over the next hour, the qawwals continued with their qawwalis. The human audience swayed their head in sync with the mood of the qawwali’s music and its devotional lyrics. But this cat didn’t stir. The 14th century sufi shrine in central Delhi is full of cats—about 150 cats, according to Jehangir Husain, a caretaker of the pilgrims’ footwear. During the day, he

A temple's big day [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The artist arrived in our city from his native Odisha early this month. Since then Gopal Mopalo has been applying a shining coat of colours to scores of sacred idols, sculptures and illustrations that grace the beautiful Sree Jagannath Mandir in Hauz Khas. This humid afternoon, he is concentrating on the figure of a lion—see photo. The venerable man is extremely polite, not showing irritation on being interrupted from his immersive work. He hails from a “heritage village” in distant Odisha, and was summoned to help prepare the temple for the festival of Rath Yatra, due on Friday, 27 June. Overlooking the Hauz Khas Village road, the all-white temple has its sanctum