Ajmer - A Divine Pilgrimage

                      

                      Our bus trip to Ajmer took us around two and a half hours. We took a rickshaw to the dargah (mausoleum) of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, also known as Khwaja Garib Nawaz; which is world-renowned. We offered the chadar (shawl) and other customary offerings there and prayed fervently. The attendant there tied a sacred thread around my hubby’s neck and my neck.

                      We offered Rs.101 for which we got a receipt. We were told to kneel down and pray with  joined palms facing upwards as per the Islamic tradition. We did so, closed our eyes and prayed... as time stood still... The rich fragrance of roses and incense wafted all around...

                       One has to tie a sacred thread at a gate there and ask for any blessing. It is believed that one’s mannat or wish is fulfilled, by the grace and benevolence of the seer, Khwaja Garib Nawaz. Devotees of all faiths thronged the dargah. The place bestows a serene sense of fulfillment to the devotees. We sat and meditated for a while and then made our way out. We could see old and impoverished people rubbing their foreheads on the floor there and also rubbing their foreheads on the gates there, obviously asking for redemption from their misery.

                      Two cavernous empty cauldrons were there in the courtyard of the dargah, where the pilgrims could offer money for the food that is given to the pilgrims. Notes and coins of various denominations were visible in them. In one such cauldron where a smaller vessel hung by a pole, over it, I wished fervently and offered a coin. Miraculously, that coin hit the small vessel's edge and just as I thought that it was about to fall into the depths of the large cauldron, fell right into the small vessel! Instantly, I was convinced that my wish would definitely be answered.

                        After a quick, delicious lunch of ‘aloo paranthas’ (chapattis stuffed with potato curry) and curds at a restaurant, we made our way through the crowded, narrow lane, with shops and stalls selling an array of products from offerings for the dargah, clothes, accessories, attar (concentrated perfumes), etc.; to the place from where we would get a bus to go to Pushkar. After waiting for what seemed an interminable time, we boarded an auto to the Ajmer bus stand. We boarded a crowded bus going to Pushkar. 

 

                         I recollected how my Dad had told me that my grandfather had been gifted a tiny attar bottle which had originated in Ajmer. Even the empty bottle had the same divine fragrance, several decades afterwards! When we enquired about the cost of a bottle of attar, a shopkeeper quoted a huge amount. We opted against buying it.

                        For us, the divine fragrance and benevolence that enveloped us in the dargah remains fresh till date...

The copyright of this travelogue is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.

(Continued from the previous travelogue - Jaipur)