NDA (II) 2017 General Ability Test · Question 123 of 150

Correct — D, Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya. Zakariya belonged to the Suhrawardi order, not the Chishti. He took his spiritual instruction from Shahab al-Din Abu Hafs Umar Suhrawardi of Baghdad and established that order in medieval South Asia, settling at Multan in 1222, a city that came to be called the Baghdad of the East. The other three names form the central Chishti line in India — Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer, then Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki at Delhi, then Baba Fariduddin Ganj-i-Shakar, and then Nizamuddin Auliya at Delhi.

• (a)Khwaja Moinuddin — Moinuddin Chishti, who died around 1230 or 1236, founded the Chishti order in South Asia and his shrine at Ajmer is its greatest centre. He is the head of the very lineage the question asks about.
• (b)Baba Fariduddin Ganj-i-Shakar — Baba Farid was the third master of the Indian Chishti line, disciple of Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, and his shrine is at Pakpattan. The order split into branches after him, all still Chishti.
• (c)Nizamuddin Auliya — Nizamuddin Auliya was Baba Farid's successor and headed the Chishti Nizami branch from Delhi; his own foremost disciple, Nasiruddin Chiragh Dehlavi, carried the teaching across the peninsula.

Four Sufi orders became well established in South Asia: the Chishti, the Suhrawardi, the Qadiri and the Naqshbandi. The Chishti was the first and the most widely followed. It took its name from Chisht, a town near Herat, and its Indian line runs from Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer through Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, Baba Farid, Nizamuddin Auliya and Nasiruddin Chiragh Dehlavi. The Suhrawardi order took its name from Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi of Baghdad and entered India through Bahauddin Zakariya at Multan.

The contrast between the two orders is worth carrying because examiners test it. The Chishtis kept their distance from the court, refused state grants and endowments, lived on offerings and embraced sama, the devotional music that grew into qawwali. The Suhrawardis under Zakariya took the opposite path, accepting state office, land grants and wealth, and living in close touch with the political authorities of Multan and Delhi. So the odd one out here is not a matter of memorising a name but of two genuinely different ways of being a Sufi in medieval India.

• Bahauddin Zakariya established the Suhrawardiyya order in medieval South Asia and was based at Multan from 1222.
• His teacher was Shahab al-Din Abu Hafs Umar Suhrawardi of Baghdad; he lived roughly from 1170 to 1262.
• The Chishti line in India runs Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki at Delhi, Baba Fariduddin Ganj-i-Shakar, Nizamuddin Auliya and Nasiruddin Chiragh Dehlavi.
• The four principal Sufi orders established in South Asia are the Chishti, Suhrawardi, Qadiri and Naqshbandi.
• The Chishti order is named after Chisht, a town near Herat in present-day Afghanistan, not after any place in India.

• Assuming every famous medieval Sufi in India was a Chishti; the Suhrawardi, Qadiri and Naqshbandi orders were also present.
• Believing the Chishti order is named after a place in Ajmer — it takes its name from Chisht near Herat, a point UPSC has tested.
• Confusing Bahauddin Zakariya of Multan with Shaikh Salim Chishti of Fatehpur Sikri, who was a Chishti.

NDA asks which name does not belong to a named order, or matches a saint with his centre, or asks for the meaning of a Sufi term.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti is at

  • (a)Ajmer
  • (b)Multan
  • (c)Pakpattan
  • (d)Fatehpur Sikri

  Answer(a) Ajmer — the principal shrine of the Chishti order in India.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following orders is known for accepting state patronage and land grants, in contrast to the Chishtis ?

  • (a)Suhrawardi
  • (b)Chishti Nizami
  • (c)Chishti Sabri
  • (d)None of these

  Answer(a) Suhrawardi — under Bahauddin Zakariya at Multan the order accepted office, endowments and close ties with the state.