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Khwaja Burhanuddin Gharib (d. 738 AH / 1337 CE) was the first Chishti shaykh to settle permanently in the Deccan. Born at Hansi in the Punjab, trained in the hospice of Khwaja Nizamuddin Awliya at Delhi, he received khilafat (succession) from his master and was among the scholars and Sufis whom Muhammad bin Tughluq required to relocate to the new southern capital at Daulatabad in 1327. He chose to settle a few kos to the north-east, at the village of Khuldabad ("the abode of eternity"), where he established a small hospice on a hilltop overlooking the plateau.
Lineage and khilafat
A chain of masters running back through Baba Farid to Mu'inuddin of Ajmer
He was a disciple of Khwaja Nizamuddin Awliya (d. 1325 at Delhi) — the great Chishti master of the Delhi Sultanate, himself a disciple of Khwaja Baba Farid of Pakpattan. From Nizamuddin Awliya's hospice he received khilafat, the formal succession-licence of the Chishti silsila. His chain of teachers, by the standard Chishti reckoning, ran through Nizamuddin Awliya, Baba Farid, Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki and Khwaja Mu'inuddin Chishti of Ajmer.
Coming to the Deccan
Carried south by Tughluq's transfer of the capital, he settles at Khuldabad
When Muhammad bin Tughluq transferred his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad in 1327, several of Nizamuddin Awliya's khalifas accompanied the court southward by imperial order. Burhanuddin Gharib was among them. He chose not to settle within Daulatabad itself but at Khuldabad — "the abode of eternity" — a few kos to the north-east, on a hilltop overlooking the plateau. From that small hilltop hospice, over the next century, the Chishti tradition spread across the entire Deccan.
Teachings and the hospice
The classical Chishti way of the open hospice, recorded in the Nafa'is al-Anfas
His method was the classical Chishti method: open hospice, daily langar (free food for all visitors regardless of station), silent dhikr, strict observance of the five daily prayers, and the patient teaching of the Sharia to a small circle of advanced disciples. His malfuzat — the recorded sayings, compiled in the Persian collection Nafa'is al-Anfas by his disciple Rukn al-Din Dabir al-Mulk — preserve the discourses of his hospice and remain a standard source for the early Chishti tradition in South India.
The Dargah and the Karbala of the Deccan
The founding shrine of the Deccan Chishtis, where even Aurangzeb sought to lie
He died at Khuldabad in 1337 and was buried there. His tomb became the first major Chishti dargah of the Deccan and the founding shrine of what came to be called the Karbala of the Deccan — a cluster of seven major dargahs and dozens of smaller graves of saints and disciples. Khuldabad's spiritual prestige was such that the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who had a deep personal devotion to the Chishti masters of the Deccan, requested in his will to be buried within sight of Burhanuddin's tomb. His simple open-sky grave still lies there, a few hundred yards from the dargah.
Burhanuddin Gharib in dates
- b. HansiBorn at Hansi in the Punjab; enters the circle of Khwaja Nizamuddin Awliya at Delhi and receives khilafat, the formal succession-licence of the Chishti silsila.
- 1325Nizamuddin Awliya dies at Delhi; Burhanuddin is among his principal khalifas entrusted with carrying forward the Chishti tradition.
- 1327Muhammad bin Tughluq transfers the imperial capital from Delhi to Daulatabad; Burhanuddin is among the Chishti khalifas required to relocate southward by imperial order.
- 1327Chooses not Daulatabad but Khuldabad — 'the abode of eternity' — a few kos to the north-east, and establishes a small hospice on a hilltop overlooking the Deccan plateau.
- c. 1327–1337Institutes the classical Chishti way at Khuldabad: open hospice with a daily langar for all visitors regardless of station, silent dhikr, strict observance of the five prayers, and patient teaching of the Sharia.
- c. 1327–1337His disciple Rukn al-Din Dabir al-Mulk compiles the Nafa'is al-Anfas, recording the hospice's discourses in Persian — the earliest major Chishti malfuzat from the Deccan.
- 1337Dies at Khuldabad (738 AH) and is buried at his hilltop hospice; the tomb becomes the founding Chishti dargah of the Deccan.
- Post-1337The cluster of shrines around his grave grows into the complex known as the Karbala of the Deccan, comprising seven major dargahs and dozens of graves of saints and disciples.
- 1707Aurangzeb, who held deep personal devotion to the Deccan Chishti masters, dies and is buried per his own will in a simple open-sky grave a few hundred yards from Burhanuddin's dargah.
- OngoingKhuldabad remains an active pilgrimage site; the dargah of Burhanuddin Gharib and Aurangzeb's grave together draw pilgrims from across the subcontinent.