The lost Sufi

The tomb of Sheikh Kabiruddin Auliya is a tall square structure built of red sandstone and topped with a plastered dome. Its wooden gate is locked. It’s only through the lattice work on its four walls that you can look at what’s inside—a cluster of graves in a rather cramped,dusty room. People lounge in the park,most of them from the jhuggis nearby. There are no tourists.

The ASI caretaker,Prem,says,“It’s a holy place. That’s why it’s locked. It belongs to some Sufi saint.” He unlocks the gate and we count nine tombstones inside the tomb. In one corner of the room,we finally spot a small board that identifies the structure: ‘Tomb of Sheikh Kabiruddin Auliya (locally known as Lal Gumbad)’.

Ask him about the 10 tombstones outside the Lal Gumbad and Prem says,“I have been told that a lot of travellers who visited the Tuqhlaq empire wanted this place to be their final resting destination.” We know nothing of these nameless travellers,but who was Sheikh Kabiruddin? Very little is known of him as well. In his book,City of Djinns,William Dalrymple calls Kabiruddin “an impoverished mendicant” and a “wandering Sufi”,of whom “nothing is now known”. He lived during the period of the infamous Tughlaq monarch,Muhammad bin Tuqhlaq,who built Jahanpanah,considered to be the fourth city of Delhi,which now lies in modern south Delhi. Kabiruddin Auliya,according to Lucy Peck’s Delhi: A Thousand Years of Building,was a disciple of Sufi saint Roshan Chirag Delhi,who was the spiritual successor of the world-renowned Nizamuddin Auliya. His tomb is more than 600 years old.

Clearly,unlike the other two Sufi saints,Nizamuddin and Roshan Chirag,to whom more prominent shrines were devoted and which today are better kept,Kabiruddin—who died in 1397—in his tomb does not draw too many visitors. But there are some who come and pay homage to him on Thursdays. “He still has the power to cure diseases,worshippers believe,” Prem says. Incense sticks tucked at the bottom of the gate of the tomb tell this story of faith.

Besides the Lal Gumbad and the 10 surrounding tombstones,there is another square structure in the park. It’s smaller in size and dilapidated. Its iron-grill door gives a view of all that is inside—two bags of cement and a pipe. “This could have been the residence of the caretaker of the monument at that time,” surmises Prem. There’s also a huge pile of garbage at one end of the park. “That side is disputed and so,uncared for,” he explains. Pointing to the pile of stones around the monument,he says that repair work is going on and hopefully,the monument will get a facelift in time for the Commonwealth Games.