Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :
Shuttari’s Dargah
`Masjid-e-Meraj Bada Makan’ is tucked away in a nondescript lane on Lalbagh Main Road. Nothing about the structure or its adjoining dargah (now under renovation) seems `historic’. But then, first impressions can be misleading.
The story goes back to 1753, says the mosque’s secretary Abdul Shukur. Hyder Ali decided to take the blessings of a fakir in Salem before the battle of Tiruchinapally against the British. It is said he was shocked when the saint Attaullah Shah Shuttari forbade him from fighting. The commander went ahead nevertheless, a move that resulted in defeat, grave physical injury and loss of lives.
Hyder Ali then requested Shuttari to become his pir (spiritual guide). Pointing to a brickwalled home opposite the mosque, Shukur says, “Hyder Ali built this bada makan (large home) for the fakir and it continues to be occupied by his descendants.“ Local residents and historians believe Shuttari had a greater role to play.
Syed Suleiman Ali Shuttari, the eighth-generation descendent of Attaullah Shah Shuttari, says people from far and wide visited his illustrious ancestor. They travelled in bullock-carts and stayed put in the grounds next to the mosque, waiting for the saint to finish his prayers. During one of his visits, Hyder Ali was pained to see people wait in the blistering heat. So, he commissioned the making of Lalbagh in 1760.
“Lalbagh was originally planned over 30 acres of land here, before Tipu Sultan and the British planned it across the 240 acres that we see today ,“ says Mansoor Ali, founder, Bengaluru By Foot. Mosque members go a step further to claim that Lalbagh was named after Haider Ali’s mother Lal Bi.
Popular narratives of history , however, say Hyder Ali was inspired by the Mughal gardens in Delhi and so had Lalbagh built. The horticulture department website suggests that Lalbagh derives its name from the red roses that bloom year-round in the botanical garden. After Shuttari’s death in the the 1770s, a dargah was built on his grave. Hyder Ali himself passed away in 1782.
The place also has an old well, said to be 30feet deep. Popularly known as Bada Makan Ki Boudi, it was apparently built by Haji Nasiruddin, a district commissioner and a follower of Shuttari. His great-grandson Shabaz Shariff said that Nasiruddin spent `200 to build the well. “It never dries out. In fact, it was among the only sources of water during the famine of 1876,“ he says. Though the well is locked, it continues to supply water to the mosque and the local community .
source: http://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com / The Economic Times / ET Home> Magazines> Panache / by Divya Shekhar, ET Bureau / July 13th, 2017
