HISTORIC BUILDINGS
I I
mosque itself, are in good preservation, having been extensively repaired
during Lord Mayo's viceroyalty, while further restorations were carried
out in 1900-2. The mosque is of about the same date as the Kutb
Minar near Delhi.
The embankment of the Anasagar lake supports the beautiful marble
pavilions erected as pleasure-houses by Shah Jahan. Of the five
original pavilions, four are still in good preservation; of the fifth the
remains are very scanty. The embankment, moreover, contains the
site of the former haammtn (bath-room), the floor of which still remains.
Three of the five pavilions were at one time formed into residences for
British officials, while the embankment was covered with office build-
ings and enclosed by gardens. The houses and enclosures were finally
removed in I900-2, when the two south pavilions were re-erected, the
marble parapet completed, and the embankment restored, as far as
practicable, to its early condition.
The Dargah Khwaja Sahib, wherein is the tomb of the Muhammadan
saint Muin-ud-din Chishti, who died here about 235, is another remark-
able building, and is an object of pilgrimage to Muhammadans from all
parts of the country. The annual number of pilgrims is about 25,000.
The shrine also contains a mosque by Akbar, another by Shah Jahan,
and several more modern buildings. The gateway, though disfigured
by modern colouring, is picturesque and old. The shrine contains
the large drums and brass candlesticks taken by Akbar at the sack
of Chitor. The saint's tomb, which was commenced in the reign of
Shams-ud-din Altamsh and finished in that of Humayun, is richly
adorned with gold and silver, but only Muhammadans are permitted to
enter its precincts. A festival, called the Urs meld, which lasts six
days, is held annually at the Dargah in the Muhammadan month of
Rajab, at which the following peculiar custom is observed. There are
two large cauldrons inside the Dargah, one twice the size of the other,
known as the great and little deg. Pilgrims to the shrine propose to offer
a deg feast. The smallest sum for which rice, butter, sugar, almonds,
raisins, and spices to fill the large deg can be bought is Rs. I,ooo,
while the donor has to pay about Rs. 200 more in presents to the
officials of the shrine and in offerings at the tomb. The materials for
the small deg cost half the sum required for the large one. After a
gigantic rice-pudding of this description has been cooked, it is scrambled
for boiling hot. Eight earthen pots of the mixture are first set apart
for the foreign pilgrims, and it is the hereditary privilege of the people
of Indrakot and of the menials of the Dargah to empty the cauldron of
the remainder of its contents. All the men who take part in the
'looting of the deg' are swathed up to the eyes in cloths to avoid the
effect of the scalding mess. When the cauldron is nearly empty, the
Indrakotis tumble in together and scrape it clean. There is no doubt
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