Politics, Piety and Penitence

The pilgrimage to the shrine of Khwaja Mu‘inuddin Chishti in Ajmer, India has been one of the most popular acts of devotion in South Asian Islam for more than five hundred years. Beginning with the reign of Akbar, the pilgrimage to the shrine of Khwaja Mu‘inuddin Chishti became one of the most important expressions of imperial piety and munificence in the Mughal period. Although Akbar’s pilgrimages have been the subject of several scholarly works, Shah Jahan’s pilgrimages and patronage have received far less attention. This study addresses that lacuna. In addition to addressing the public and political benefit that the emperor gained from his presence at Ajmer, this study uniquely examines his personal and spiritual motivations for his patronage based on artistic, architectural and epigraphic evidence. With new insights drawn from the masnavi inscribed on his mosque at Ajmer, I conclude that there is a penitential aspect to Shah Jahan’s pilgrimages to Ajmer beyond the public image of a pious padshah.