Khuldabad Village

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Khuldabad Village, 1908

(or Rauza). —Village in the Khuldabad taluk of Aurangabad District, Hyderabad State, situated in 20 degree 1' N. and 75 degree 12' E., 2,732* feet above sea-level and 500 feet above the plains, 14 miles north-west of Aurangabad city. Population (1901), 2,845. Khuldabad contains the tombs of Aurangzeb and of his son Azam Shah ; of Asaf J ah, the founder of the Hyderabad State ; of Nasir Jang, Nizam Shah, king of Ahmadnagar ; of Malik Ambar, the Nizam Shahi minister ; of Tana Shah, the last of the Kutb Shahi kings ; and of several Musalman saints. The former name of the place was Rauza, which was changed to Khuldabad in consequence of the title of Khuld Makan conferred on Aurangzeb after his death. The extensive ruins of the ancient Hindu city of Buddravanti are situated on an adjoining table-land. In addition to the taluk office, Khuldabad contains a post office, a school, a police amln's office, and a police station. It is largely resorted to as a sanitarium.

This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.

Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.

Aurangzeb’s tomb

May 24, 2022: The Times of India

Khuldabad, Daulatabad and Aurangabad on the map
From: May 24, 2022: The Times of India

As per his wish, Aurangzeb was buried in a simple open grave, or kachcha kabar, in Khuldabad. He paid for his own tomb with money made from sewing caps. The marble floor, domed porch and filigreed enclosure were added later
From: May 24, 2022: The Times of India

The beautiful canopy or chajja above the grave from which the ostrich eggs pendulum hangs
From: May 24, 2022: The Times of India

The tomb of Malik Ambar (1548-1626), an Ethiopian slave who rose through the ranks to be the strongest military commander of the generation and mentored Shiva ji’s grandfather Maloji
From: May 24, 2022: The Times of India

An inside view of Malik Ambar's tomb which unfortunately lies neglected in Khuldabad. It's a few hundred metres from Aurangzeb’s tomb
From: May 24, 2022: The Times of India

Why is the grave nothing more than a mound of soil?

Aurangzeb commissioned what was the largest mosque in the world at the time – the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore that can accommodate 60,000 people. It was completed in the 1670s.

He also commissioned an elaborate tomb for his first wife, Dilras Banu Begum, who died from complications following the birth of their fifth child in 1657. The construction, later managed by his son Azam Shah, was done in Aurangabad by Attaullah Rashidi, son of Ustad Ahmad Lahori, one of the chief architects of the Taj Mahal, and looks like a smaller version of the Taj. It’s called Bibi ka Maqbara or ‘mini Taj’ in tourism pamphlets. 


But for himself, Aurangzeb wanted to be buried in a simple open grave, or kachcha kabar, in one corner of his Sufi guru’s courtyard in Khuldabad. He paid for his own tomb with money made from sewing caps in the last few years of his life. It’s said it only cost 14 rupees 12 annas in 1707.


Much of the adornment around the tomb – the marble floor, domed porch, and filigreed enclosure – were built later by the Nizam of Hyderabad in the 18th century and British viceroy Curzon at the beginning of the 20th century. 


The importance of Khuldabad to Sufis


Aurangzeb’s Sufi guru, Sheikh Sayyad Zainuddin, came from Shiraz in Iran, but is believed to have been of African origin. A pendulum of ostrich eggs hanging over his grave is said to indicate a link to Africa. 
Zainuddin was handed the mantle of leadership among the Chishti Sufis in Khuldabad after the death of Burhanuddin, who is buried across the road in a much larger enclosure.

An inscription says that Burhanuddin came to Khuldabad in 1317-19 AD along with 1,400 followers from Delhi at the request of Nizamuddin Auliya. Nizamuddin thought Burhanuddin’s relocation to be important enough to hand down a robe (Pairhan-i-Mubarak) that’s believed to have been worn by Prophet Mohammad on the night of his ascent to heaven. 


It’s now kept in an enclosure behind Zainuddin’s tomb and brought out on special occasions. 


Perhaps the most neglected and least visited of the tombs in Khuldabad is a brownstone structure a few hundred metres from Aurangzeb’s tomb. It houses Malik Ambar (1548-1626), an Ethiopian slave who rose through the ranks to control the Ahmadnagar army and defeated the forces of Akbar and Jahangir. 


He was drafted into the sultanate in the early 1570s as a slave of Chengiz Khan, the peshwa (chief minister) of Ahmadnagar and another African, and was freed by the widow of his master after his master died. 
By the early 1600s, he had proven to be the strongest military commander of the generation and mentored Shiva ji’s grandfather Maloji.

Back to 2022 – Raj Thackeray’s MNS fires the first salvo 


The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) on May 19 shut the tomb for the next five days to visitors and the Aurangabad police increased security around the structure after threats by the Raj Thackeray-led MNS to destroy it. 
The threat was led by MNS spokesperson Gajanan Kale. In a tweet, he questioned the “need for the existence of the tomb in Khuldabad in Chhatrapati Shiva ji’s Maharashtra,” calling for it to be destroyed. 
Challenging Uddhav, Kale accused the Sena of moving away from Bal Thackeray’s hardline Hindutva by flipping on the issue of renaming Aurangabad to ‘Sambhajinagar’.


“The government’s decision to increase security round the tomb is akin to rubbing salt in the wounds of Shiva ji’s devotees… it is shameful to increase security round the tomb of the person who brutally murdered Chhatrapati Sambhaji,” said Kale. 


MNS’s attack on Uddhav came immediately after Akbaruddin’s visit to the tomb and it tied in seamlessly with its criticism of the government for not ordering removal of loudspeakers from mosques. 


How has the Sena responded? 


The Sena too was unhappy with Akbaruddin’s visit to the tomb and had criticised it. In Maratha history, there isn’t a bigger villain than Aurangzeb and there isn’t a bigger hero than Chhatrapati Shiva ji Maharaj. So, there is no question of any political party standing up for basic freedoms and fighting for Akbaruddin’s right to visit any place he may wish to. That would be political suicide. 


A more pointed response to the MNS came from Sena’s ally in the government, the Congress. Congress spokesman Sachin Sawant alleged that Akbaruddin had visited Aurangzeb’s tomb in 2019 too when the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP was in power. 


He also pointed out that Darakshan Andrabi, a BJP leader from Jammu and Kashmir, too had visited the tomb during Fadnavis’ tenure as CM. “Aurangzeb’s tomb is under jurisdiction of the Archaeological Survey of India. The Modi government [at the Centre] can control, restrict or even ban entry. Why doesn’t it register a complaint against Akbaruddin Owaisi?” Sawant asked.

But this is not the first time Aurangabad has landed in Hindutva cross-hair
Aurangabad, which has around 32% Muslim population, 17% Dalits and 51% Hindus, has always been a communal hotspot. 


At the time of India’s freedom from British rule, Aurangabad was part of the Hyderabad state. Between 1947 and September 1948, there were multiple attacks on Hindus by the Razakars, a paramilitary force in Hyderabad state. 
The city is still divided into Hindu and Muslim areas. Gulmandi is the dividing line – on the one side of it are Hindu neighbourhoods and on the other are Muslim areas. 


The Shiv Sena’s aggressive anti-Muslim propaganda as Bal Thackeray built the party’s presence in Marathwada in the 80s led to sharp polarisation and a series of riots in 1984, 1985, 1987 and 1988. 


Now, with the rise of AIMIM in municipal polls, the divisions have been deepened. 


Why Khuldabad is a ticking bomb 


Khuldabad is a tinderbox because of the site's importance to the subcontinent's Muslims and rather thin security cover for Aurangzeb’s tomb. 


Though the lineage of Sufism that established Khuldabad as a religious hub, the Chishti order may not find favour with some of India's orthodox Muslims, the holy robe - the 'Pairhan' worn by Mohammad - would be holy to every Muslim. And the relative ease with which Aurangzeb's open grave can be defiled could make any disturbance here a short fuse for wider troubles.


Earlier efforts to rewrite the region's history are visible in the Daulatabad fort nearby. As you enter the imposing fort that rises to the top of a hill, on the left inside the first ring of walls is an earlier mosque on whose mihrab, or prayer niche, a colourful picture of 'Bharatmata' has been painted. A priest offers prayers at the site. Some experts have speculated that some of the earlier stonework at the structure might have belonged to a Buddhist or Jain seminary.

If such an effort were to be repeated today at one of the area's other structures, it's unlikely to go as unnoticed as the temple.