Reference of Article Majid Sheikh (Dawn Newspaper)
07-10-2018
Nehra, son of Hazrat Mauj
Darya Bukhari, was a pious man with views as orthodox can be. The word
Nehra, in Hindi, means a lion, and it was one of the miracles of Shahabuddin
performed in the Lahore Fort before Emperor Akbar that earned him this name.
Two holy men, so very different from one another, yet in death near one
another, not that it was their choice. Shahyum was buried far away from the
city so that his followers did not influence the simple folk of Lahore.
Shahabuddin Nehra. His
father Hazrat Mauj Darya Bukhari was a leading seer of his times, and it was to
him that Emperor Akbar turned when he repeatedly failed to conquer the huge
fort of Chattisgarh from the fierce Rajputs. In those days it was normal for
rulers to seek the assistance of ‘holy men when they faced problems. One
assumes it was a last resort measure, and it was to Hazrat Mauj Darya Bukhari
that Akbar turned. He was summoned and the holy man refused royal horses and
said he would be there before the horses, which is what exactly happened. How
is it not for me to dwell on?
The holy man told the
emperor to forget past failures and attack the fort before the sun rises the
next day, and to keep attacking no matter what the cost. Exactly at noon, he
would win. Exactly as predicted, down to the last detail, Akbar was able to
conquer the fort, and it was this event that helped him to consolidate his
empire. Back in Lahore Fort the emperor summoned the holy man, and a few
courtiers, jealous of the new standing of Mauj Darya, shut the gates to his son
Shahabuddin. In a rage, Shahabuddin roared and as several accounts tell us, he morphed
into an angry lion. One push at the gates and it yielded with the guards
fleeing.
The lion ran to where the
emperor was, and as legend has it, he held forth his huge paw. The emperor hid
behind Mauj Darya Bukhari and the lion withdrew and lay down. Mauj Darya
scolded him for losing his temper and said that ‘court intrigues are part of
life. The emperor understood what Mauj Darya meant and soon, as legend tells
us, the lion returned to human form. The emperor named him ‘Nehra’, a name that
remains with him till today.
Out of reverence for Mauj
Darya Bukhari, the emperor built the tomb of his ‘peer’ even before he died. It
is located at the western corner of Turner Road and east of Old Anarkali. The
tomb of Syed Shahabuddin Nehra was built in the Mughal gardens just near
Mughalpura. After the death of his father, Shahabuddin Nehra excelled in his
understanding of the Quran and the Hadith. His ‘miracles’ were well-known and
he avoided the Mughal court and its intrigues, but his advice was sought in
moments of crisis. One account tells of him walking in a Lahore bazaar and
people, out of fear, running away.
