Building Nizamuddin: a Delhi Sultanate dargah and its surrounding buildings
Date
2000
Authors
Keshani, Hussein
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Abstract
This study focuses on the architectural development of the site of the dargah (tomb complex) of Nizamuddin, a fourteenth century Muslim mystic of the Chishti tradition in Delhi, India during the Delhi Sultanate Period (602-932/1206-1526). Mughal and British contributions to the site are briefly surveyed as well. The dargah is considered an important historical and religious site for both Indians and South Asian Muslims. It has continued to attract numerous pilgrims from its inception to the present day, a period spanning over six hundred and fifty years. New evidence that is contributed in this study includes recent photographs of most of the Sultanate structures at the site that were taken in the course of field research conducted in November and December of 1998. Previously unrecorded epigraphs on the structure scholars call the Jamatkhana are documented and identified for the first time. Existing textual evidence is reused in new ways to determine historical perceptions of the built environment. Previous studies of the site have left important chronological issues unresolved. They have also not fully explored why the site developed the way it did and have overlooked how the Jamatkhana epigraphs can serve as historical evidence. Here these problems are addressed with an approach that integrates a variety of types of archaeological, anthropological, historical and art historical data. First, the chronology of the site is reviewed and reassessed. Second the beliefs, uses and patrons of the site are analyzed in their historical and cultural context. Third, a detailed study of scholarly approaches to Quranic epigraphy and the epigraphs of the Jamatkhana is made. Finally, post-Delhi Sultanate developments are reviewed to open avenues for further study. I argue that the developments take place after the death of Shaikh Nizamuddin in 1325 and were prompted by public attention given to the site. The resulting developments transformed the gravesite into a centre for religious activities and human settlement that facilitated the desires of the site's patrons to secure lasting memory and spiritual reward, as well as Sultan Firoz Shah Tughluq's interest in controlling the Chishti religious legacy.