Why Mumbai’s top police officers walk to dargahs with an offering every year

After Independence, while most government departments quietly shed the ceremonial and religious practices they had inherited from the British era a few exceptions endured, particularly at dargahs such as Mahim, and Dongri’s Rehman Shah Baba.

The legacy of Mahim Dargah

The Mahim Dargah of Hazrat Makhdoom Ali Mahimi is one of Mumbai’s oldest and most historically layered Islamic shrines, with a lineage stretching back over six centuries. Long before Mumbai grew into a metropolis, this coastal dargah functioned as a spiritual anchor for sailors, traders, scholars and communities along the western coast.

The saint himself was of Arab descent; his ancestors are believed to have arrived in India around AD 860 (AH 252) after fleeing the persecution of Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, the powerful and feared governor of Basra. Born roughly five centuries later in India, Makhdoom Ali Mahimi received rigorous training in Islamic law and theology and was eventually appointed the faqih, or law officer, for the Muslim community of Mahim. He passed away in 1431, and soon after his death, the local community built a mosque and shrine in his honour. Over the centuries, that shrine evolved into one of Mumbai’s most significant pilgrimage centres.

The city police’s relationship with the shrine

The Mumbai Police’s association with the Mahim Dargah goes back far earlier than the modern force itself. Long before the establishment of a formal police structure, lawkeeping on the islands of Bombay was carried out by the Bhandari Militia, an indigenous group drawn largely from the Bhandari community of coastal Maharashtra. They served as the earliest police, security guards and night watchmen of the region, and their affinity with the shrine appears to have been carried forward into the British era.

The first written references to the police’s involvement with the Dargah come from S M Edwardes, Bombay Police Commissioner from 1909 to 1916. (Express Photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)

While there are no public records explaining the origins of this connection, local lore suggests that several early chowkis were located close to places where the saint once lived or preached to his followers. There are also legends that, at times, these early lawkeepers felt they were being aided by some unseen force when cracking down on criminals and smugglers in the area.

The first written references to the police’s involvement with the Dargah come from S M Edwardes, Bombay Police Commissioner from 1909 to 1916. In his records, he documents both the Urs and the active participation of the police. Edwardes notes: “The three chief processions are that of the Bombay Police which takes place about noon on the first day of the fair; that of the Nawab of Janjira, about 3 pm on the same day; and lastly the shrine-procession which takes place about 12 o’clock on the same night.”

The Gazetteer of Bombay City and Island (1910) also records the police role in the ceremonies: “In the police procession, which starts from the Mahim Police-chauki, the trays are carried by the Sunni Musalman officers of the corps, and a few sepays at the head of the procession perform on the long sword and fence with one another, as they move along.”

This tradition has continued into the present day. Within the Mumbai Police, a dedicated trust now oversees the offering, with personnel contributing Rs 25 per employee to purchase the ceremonial items for the Dargah.

Mumbai police’s relationship with other Dargahs

Mahim Dargah is not the only shrine where the Mumbai Police participate in ceremonial rituals. A similar tradition exists at the Dargah of Haji Rehman Shah Baba in Dongri, an important Sufi shrine dedicated to Abdul Rehman Shah Baba. The ascetic is believed to have been born in Salem in the Madras Presidency before moving to Bombay in the 19th century. His origins remain the subject of differing accounts: some traditions describe him as a law officer, while others portray him as a hafiz-e-Quran.

In Dongri, he lived as a wandering Sufi mendicant, and several legends surround him including one in which the police were allegedly unable to detain him despite repeated complaints from locals. Although there is no written record confirming these stories, it is widely believed that the erstwhile Bombay Police began paying homage to the saint after his death in 1915, in acknowledgment of his local influence and the community reverence he commanded.

The practice has continued into the modern era. Senior officers from the jurisdiction regularly take part in the annual Sandal ceremony, and in October this year, the Mumbai Police Commissioner himself led the rituals at the Rahman Shah Baba Dargah, offering the ceremonial chadar on behalf of the force.

What explains this participation?

The Mumbai Police’s presence at the city’s dargahs has far less to do with religion and far more to do with the way Bombay evolved. For decades, shrines like Mahim, Haji Ali and Dongri’s Rehman Shah Baba were among the city’s biggest public venues, drawing thousands of sailors, traders and migrant workers during their annual Urs fairs. Managing these crowds meant the police were always on the ground handling everything from traffic and theft to fights, stampedes and coastal safety. Over time, that constant coordination with shrine committees turned into a tradition.

Location strengthened the bond. The old police chowkis at Mahim and Dongri stood practically next to the dargahs, making the local force the first to respond to any crisis during the fairs. The British administration also encouraged such gestures, especially in a city regularly hit by dockyard tensions and communal flare-ups. Maintaining goodwill with influential neighbourhood institutions was seen as a way to keep the peace.