Cultural Karnataka

 Khwaja Bande Nawaz Durgah


The tomb of the great Sufi saint Khwaja Bande Nawaz, a magnificent building in the Indo-Saracenic style, holds pride of place in the hearts of Muslim devotees. Thousands of Hindus and Muslims visit the durgah each day to pay homage to the saint. It is the venue of an annual urus (festival) attended by nearly one hundred thousand people, both Muslims as well as Hindus. At festivals held on the 15th of every lunar month, you can see devotees spontaneously dancing like the dervishes in the Sufi shrine at Konya in Turkey. The Durgah Library houses almost 10,000 books on various subjects in Urdu, Persian, and Arabic.