The tomb as mentioned by Buchanan, Hafiz, Kuraishi and others stands on the site of an earlier Hindu temple, and is also amply testified by some carved pillars and a lintel found in its premises and by the lion colossus called ‘Shardul’ or ‘Singh Sadaul’ lying near its entrance on the north. The tomb proper is in the middle of the enclosure. The locals I interacted with during my visit were not aware about the historical importance of the Shardul sculpture. One of the caretakers of the Dargah narrated a curious legend about the sculpture as being of a heavenly bird who turned into stone as it was trying to save the mini elephant from drowning, when it got in touch with the holy water of wazu.

On the central portion of the western gallery is a mosque attached to the tomb. The main mosque is a three domed building with a pucca platform outside. The mosque is in a very dilapidated condition, and almost on the point of crumbling down to the ground. This mosque and the boundary wall of Bari Dargah were built under the orders of the same Ibrahim Khan Kakar who effected the construction of the tank and the Chhoti Dargah. The inscription[xiv] at the door of the Mosque gives 1014 A.H. (1606 A.D.) as the date of its construction. There are a number of other graves inside the enclosure including the one of Prince Tajuddin Khandgah, said to be a scion of the family of Mahmud of Ghazni. Outside its northern gate there is an open mosque said to be built by two Khwaja Saras (eunuchs or chamberlains) of king of Delhi who were later buried here at their express injunction, saying that as they had spent their whole life at the court of a temporal king, they wanted, after death, to be attached to the court of a spiritual king.

To be continued......