Ajmer, the home of the most famed Muslim Shrine of Sufi Saint Moinuddin Chisthi is the principal place of Muslim pilgrimage in India. Khwaja Chisti was born in 1142, a direct descendant of Ali, the son in Law of the Prophet Mohammad. Renouncing the world he joined a renowned mystic, khwaja Usman Haruni belonging to the Sufi School of the Chistian order and stayed with him for 24 years ultimately to leave for India in 1186 as a missionary. He arrived in Ajmer during the reign of the famed Rajput Prithviraj Chauhan and saw the city being captured by Afghans.

At the age of 93, in the year 1236 He told his disciples not to disturb him while he is in his cell, finally to be found as dead after six days. Chisthi’s power remained long after his death. More than three centuries later the Mughal Emperor Akbar, who had no son made a pilgrimage bare foot from Agra to Ajmer to Saint’s tomb to pray for an Heir. Blessed with the birth of his eldest son, Salim [Future Emperor Jahangir], Akbar begun to make regular pilgrimages to Ajmer to meditate at the tomb of the venerated Khwaja Moinuddin Chisthi. A mosque was built in Honor of Khwaja. The Mughal emperors, in move to legitimize their dynasty, made of Khwaja Chisthi the patron saint of their lineage and the Dargah of Ajmer their dynastic sanctuary.

The Shrine is approached through a imposing gateway with sliver doors. The Second courtyard is entered through Buland Darwaza – another gate. A heavy silver double railing guards the tomb with its gold embroidered canopy. Opposite the main entrance to the tomb is a colonnaded verandah with marble paving – used as resting place by the pilgrims. Within the enclosure is an elegant mosque built by Shah Jahan and other one constructed by cooking food [Degs] is the objects of attraction.

Khwaja Sahib Compassion for the poor and downtrodden, irrespective of caste and creed earned him the epithet of Garib Nawaz. The Shrine is considered second only to Mecca – Madina and during the saint’s death anniversary celebrations [URS], hundreds of thousands of pilgrims come here from all over the sub continent, between the first and sixth of Rajab, the seventh month of Lunar Calendar.