The saint the city calls Gharib Nawaz
To this day the dargah is visited by Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and people of no faith at all, and you will see them standing side by side with baskets of roses.
His birth: Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti was born in the twelfth century in Sistan, in what is now eastern Iran.
His master: he became a disciple of the Sufi master Khwaja Usman Harooni, and travelled through Central Asia.
- When
- 1 to 6 Rajab, Islamic calendar, moving about eleven days earlier each year
- Where
- Ajmer Sharif Dargah, Ajmer
- Lasts
- Six days
- Best day
- The sixth, Chhati Sharif, with the Qul
- Book by
- At least two to three months ahead
- Good for
- Those with a real interest in Sufism and qawwali
- To Ajmer: he came to India at the end of the twelfth century and settled in Ajmer, then a Chauhan city below the hill fort later called Taragarh.
- His life there: he lived simply, taught and served the poor until his death in March 1236.
- His name: the people of Ajmer called him Gharib Nawaz, the benefactor of the poor, and the name has stayed with him for eight centuries.
- The Chishtis: mystics of Islam who seek God through love, service and remembrance rather than power or argument. They kept away from courts, refused gifts from kings and opened their kitchens to all.
- Sama: they embraced listening to music and poetry as a path to the divine, which is why qawwali grew up around their shrines.
- His successors: they carried his teaching to Delhi and beyond, through Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, Baba Farid and Nizamuddin Auliya.
- Hamiduddin: one of his own disciples, settled at Nagaur, where his shrine still stands.
- Akbar: devoted to the saint, he walked to Ajmer as a pilgrim and gave the larger of the two great cauldrons in the dargah. Jahangir gave the smaller one.
- Shah Jahan and Jahanara: he built the white marble mosque in 1637. His daughter, herself a follower of the Chishtis, added the marble veranda near the tomb known as the Begumi Dalan.
- The main gateway: given by the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1911.
- Rajput families: they came too, and they still do.
- Read more: our page on Ajmer Sharif Dargah walks you through the shrine gate by gate, and our Ajmer guide has the rest of the city.
Why a death is called a wedding
A good qawwal starts slowly, almost conversationally, and then builds, repeating a single line again and again, faster and louder, with the clapping rising beneath it, until the whole courtyard seems to be breathing together. You do not need to understand the words to feel what they do.
The soul as lover: for the Sufis the soul longs all its life for God, as a lover longs for the beloved. Death is not an ending but the moment of union.
A wedding anniversary: a saint's death anniversary is therefore his wedding, celebrated with music, food, prayer and joy rather than grief.
- Why Ajmer is greatest: every Sufi shrine in South Asia keeps its saint's urs, but Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti is regarded as the founder of the Chishti order in India and among the subcontinent's most beloved saints.
- Why pilgrims come: to ask for blessings, give thanks for prayers answered and be near the saint on his day.
- Vows: many have made a mannat and come to fulfil it. Some tie threads to the marble screens as a sign of a wish, and untie them when it comes true.
- Who comes: families bring babies to be blessed, newly married couples come for the saint's protection, and the sick come in hope. Others simply come to listen.
- The qawwals: they belong to families who have sung at the shrine for generations.
- The poetry: verses in Persian, Urdu and the old Hindavi of Amir Khusrau, the thirteenth-century disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya remembered as the father of qawwali.
- What they sing of: God, the Prophet and the saints, and the soul as a bride waiting for her beloved.
- Read more: our page on folk music in Rajasthan explains how qawwali sits alongside the state's other great musical traditions.
- For a visitor: this is a time of prayer for the people around you. It is joyful and full of music, but it is not a show. Come as a guest at a holy occasion, and you will be welcomed.
When the Urs falls
The six days: the Urs is held over the first six days of Rajab, the seventh month of the Islamic calendar, and ends on the sixth.
Why it moves: the Islamic year is about eleven days shorter than the solar year, so the Urs moves about eleven days earlier each year through the Western calendar.
- Dates
- First six days of Rajab
- Rajab
- Seventh month of the Islamic calendar
- Moves
- About eleven days earlier each year
- Recent years
- Late December and early January
- Fixed by
- Sighting of the new moon
- Season
- Currently the cool season
- An example: the 813th Urs began in the last days of December 2024 and ran into January 2025.
- The next few years: it moves back through December and towards November.
- The moon: exact dates depend on the sighting of the new moon at the start of Rajab, so they are only fixed a day or so before the Urs begins.
- The weather: in its current place in the calendar the Urs falls in the cool season, which makes the crowds easier to bear than in summer.
- Cold nights: December and January mornings in Ajmer can be cold, and the nights of qawwali colder still in the courtyards. Bring a warm shawl.
- Read more: our page on Rajasthan in December covers the weather and the month's other festivals.
How the Urs unfolds
The flag on the Buland Darwaza
The announcement: a flag is raised over the Buland Darwaza, the high gate credited to a sultan of Malwa that leads into the main courtyards.
- When: in the last days before the new moon of Rajab, with crowds filling the courtyards and the drums of the naqqar khana, the drum house, sounding.
- What follows: Ajmer knows the saint's wedding is coming, and pilgrims begin to pour in.
The new moon and the opening of the Jannati Darwaza
The start: when the moon of Rajab is sighted, the Urs proper begins.
- The gate of paradise: the Jannati Darwaza, a silver door on one side of the tomb kept closed for most of the year, is opened.
- The queue: pilgrims wait for hours to pass through it, and many believe it brings a blessing for this life and the next. It stays open through the Urs.
Chadars and roses
The offering: processions arrive with chadars, embroidered cloths of red, green and gold, to be laid over the grave.
- Who brings them: families, whole villages and towns, and groups who have walked for days to reach Ajmer.
- By long custom: India's prime minister sends a chadar each year, and others come from across South Asia.
- Roses: baskets of red roses are carried in by the thousand, and the grave disappears under petals.
The degs
The cauldrons: two enormous iron degs in the first courtyard, given by Akbar and Jahangir.
- The cooking: filled again and again with rice, ghee, sugar, nuts and saffron, cooked through the night over wood fires. The food is vegetarian.
- Tabarruk: the food is shared among pilgrims as a blessing.
- The emptying: when men climb in to ladle out the last of the rice, it is a ritual of its own.
The nights of qawwali
The Mehfil Khana: the great gatherings of sama are held every night in this assembly hall, built in 1888, and qawwals sing in the courtyards until dawn.
- The formal mehfil: presided over by the shrine's spiritual head, with old rules of seating and dress.
- In the courtyards: groups of qawwals sing to crowds on the marble, building from calm verses to ecstatic repetition.
- The listeners: many weep, sway or sit absolutely still. Qawwali is prayer, sung.
The sixth day: Chhati Sharif and the Qul
The most sacred day: the sixth of Rajab, known as Chhati Sharif.
- The Qul: held in the late morning, with recitations, prayers and the Badhawa, a hymn sung at the entrance to the tomb with only hand-clapping and no instruments.
- The close: the Urs formally ends in the early afternoon, traditionally with the firing of a cannon.
- The crowd: the largest of all.
After the Urs
Lingering pilgrims: many stay on for some days, and the lanes remain crowded.
- The Bada Qul: a closing ceremony a few days later ends the season.
- Then: Ajmer exhales, the Jannati Darwaza closes, and the dargah returns to its everyday rhythm of drums, roses and Thursday-night qawwali.
Ajmer during the Urs
The sound: long before you reach the dargah you hear drums, qawwali voices from loudspeakers and the murmur of an enormous crowd moving slowly towards a single tomb.
The Dargah Bazaar: the narrow lane to the Nizam Gate becomes a single moving river of people.
The stalls: chadars, rose petals, prayer caps, rosaries, attar and tins of sohan halwa, Ajmer's famous sweet.
- The welcome: volunteers hand out water, the railways run special trains, and tent camps for pilgrims spread over open ground across the city.
- Open homes: the city's families take in relatives and strangers, and community kitchens, langars, feed pilgrims day and night.
- Who you will see: villagers from Rajasthan and Gujarat, families from Hyderabad and Mumbai, students from Delhi, Sikh and Hindu devotees and pilgrims from across South Asia.
- The malangs: wandering Sufi devotees with long hair and robes.
- Night food: biryani, kebabs, sheermal bread and great pans of sweets fill the lanes around the dargah.
- The honest part: the crowd near the tomb is dense, slow and powerful, and security around the dargah is tight.
- Our advice: for most guests, see the dargah on an ordinary day, and visit during the Urs only with a guide who knows the crowds.
How to visit with respect
Cover your head: men and women alike. A scarf or a cap is fine, and you can buy one in the bazaar.
Shoes off: before the gate. Leave them at a shoe stall or with your driver, and wear socks if the marble is cold or hot.
Dress modestly: arms and legs covered. Loose, light layers are most comfortable in the crowds.
- Photography: none inside the tomb or during prayers, and no filming of the qawwali in the Mehfil Khana. In the courtyards ask first, and put your phone away if those around you have.
- Carry very little: bags, cameras and large phones may be checked or refused at security, and the crowd near the tomb is no place for anything you would mind losing.
- The khadims: the hereditary custodians guide pilgrims through the rituals. Accept their help, but agree on any offering beforehand, or let our guide handle it.
- Roses or a chadar: offer them if you wish, and buy them without haggling. It is a sacred offering.
- At the qawwali: sit where you are shown, keep your legs folded rather than pointing your feet at the singers, and listen.
- A note for the musicians: if a verse moves you, you may hold out a note and pass it to them, as others do.
- Women's spaces: respect the places where women are not permitted at certain moments, and follow the custodians' guidance.
- Keep belongings close: like every great pilgrim crowd, the Urs attracts pickpockets.
Should you go during the Urs?
On an ordinary day: you can reach the tomb, lay your roses, watch the degs being prepared in the morning and sit through the lamp-lighting at dusk and an hour of qawwali afterwards.
Thursday evenings: the music is already fervent and the crowd large, and you will understand a great deal about the shrine.
- Most travellers
- Visit on an ordinary day
- Ordinary Thursday
- Fervent qawwali, large crowd
- Come for the Urs if
- Sufism, qawwali, comfortable in crowds
- Avoid the Urs if
- Mobility needs, anxiety, small children
- Alternative
- A few weeks before or after
- Come for the Urs if: you have a real interest in Sufism, qawwali or the devotional life of South Asia, are comfortable in very large crowds, and are willing to stay at the edges.
- How to come: with a guide who knows Ajmer, and with short visits rather than long ones.
- Where the reward is: often not at the tomb itself but in the lanes, the langars and the courtyards at night.
- Don't come if: you have mobility difficulties, crowds make you anxious, or you are travelling with small children. The press of people near the dargah is intense, and there is no way to make it gentle.
- Our alternative: a visit a few weeks before or after, when you will see its beauty in peace.
How we plan a visit during the Urs
The dates: we estimate them from the Islamic calendar and confirm them with people we trust in Ajmer as the new moon approaches.
The day: we plan your visit for one of the quieter days, often the early days of the Urs or a morning rather than a night, unless you particularly want the qawwali after dark.
Your guide: someone who knows the lanes, the khadims and the crowds, and who will keep you to the edges when that is wiser.
- Book by
- At least two to three months ahead
- Stay
- Pushkar resorts or a Kishangarh palace
- Pushkar to Ajmer
- About fifteen kilometres
- Quieter visits
- Early days, or mornings
- Cars
- Cannot reach the dargah
- Your car: it waits at a pre-agreed point, because vehicles cannot reach the dargah.
- Stay outside the old city: Ajmer has comfortable hotels but no grand palace hotel, and during the Urs its hotels are full of pilgrims who have every right to be closer to the saint than you.
- Pushkar: most guests stay in the resorts of Pushkar, about fifteen kilometres away over the Nag Pahar ridge, and drive across. See our guide to luxury stays in Pushkar.
- Kishangarh: others stay at a palace hotel in Kishangarh, which is also close to the airport.
- Book early: at least two to three months ahead, because the whole region fills.
- Other sacred places: our guide to temple etiquette and our page on faith and temples in Rajasthan cover the customs elsewhere on your journey.
Ajmer beyond the shrine
Adhai Din ka Jhonpra
Where: a short walk uphill from the dargah.
- Its story: a mosque begun in 1192 on the site of an older Sanskrit college.
- Why see it: its great screen of arches carved with calligraphy is one of the earliest monuments of Islamic architecture in India. Our Adhai Din ka Jhonpra page tells its story.
Ana Sagar
The lake: built in the twelfth century by the Chauhan king Arnoraja, it gives a crowded city air and space.
- The Baradari: Shah Jahan's white marble pavilions on the embankment.
- When: at sunset, a gentle way to end a day of crowds.
Akbar's palace and the museum
- The palace: square and walled, built by Akbar in 1570 as a residence for his pilgrimages.
- Today: it holds the city museum, calm and beautiful in the evening light.
Soniji ki Nasiyan
- The temple: a nineteenth-century Jain temple holding a gilded model of the Jain universe, filled with tiny golden palaces, ships and flying figures.
- Its lesson: Ajmer has always been a city of many faiths.
Journeys that include Ajmer
Sacred Rajasthan
- The journey: our Sacred Rajasthan journey brings together Pushkar, Ajmer, Nathdwara and Ranakpur.
- Four faiths in one route: a Hindu lake town, a Sufi shrine, a Krishna temple and a Jain marvel, the best way to see how Rajasthan's faiths live side by side.
Pushkar
Just over the hill: Pushkar's lake, ghats and Brahma temple.
- A perfect partner: its evening aarti at the lake pairs with the qawwali at Ajmer.
- Another gathering: the Pushkar Camel Fair in Kartik is another of Rajasthan's great ones.
Nagaur and Hamiduddin Nagori
- The disciple's shrine: a few hours north-west, quieter and deeply moving.
- The fort: Nagaur's restored fort is one of the most beautiful in Rajasthan.
Delhi and Nizamuddin
- The shrine: in Delhi, Nizamuddin Auliya, a spiritual descendant of Khwaja Moinuddin, whose dargah fills with qawwali every Thursday evening.
- Completing the story: for guests interested in Sufism, beginning or ending a journey there.