The main entrance is on the north, having guard-rooms on both sides of the entrance passage and a dome above, flanked by a small octagonal tower on its either side. The entrance gate has an inscription in Arabic verse referring to its construction in A.H. 1022 (i.e. A.D. 1613) A wide flight of stone steps from the ground leads to it, and the top portion of the gate has an inscription as follows:-

“In the name of God, kind and merciful. There is no God but Allah: Muhammad is his prophet.

I was thinking of the date of this gate, My heart was living in its vicinity:

My intelligence said, by way of command, Say, ‘Whoever entered it is safe’.

When in this sacred shrine of the king, The face of decoration was completed,

I searched for its date; My intelligence, for this auspicious place,

Opened its lips in prayer and said:- ‘May the gate of Daulat (Fortune) remain always open’.”

Hafiz S. Ahmad has mentioned the gate as having been beautifully designed after the usual Moghal style. However, a reading of the inscription as above suggests that the Gate may have been pre-existing and may have been suitably modeled according to the needs of the Chhoti Dargah. This is more so since there are sculptures of elephants on all balconies which suggest a Hindu origin for the Gate, as Islamic monuments of that age do not have such figures of animals. However, this seems to have missed the attention of the surveyors or they have preferred to no pay much attention to this element of surprise.

To be continued....