Mian Mir

                  The mausoleum of Mian Mir, situated in the cantonment of the same name, is about three miles east of Lahore.  The saint was a descendant of the caliph Umar, and his ancestors were natives of Sistan.  Dara Shekoh, in his Sakinat-ul-Aulia, gives the following pedigree of Mian Mir:-

 KAZI SAIN DITTA

Married Fatima, daughter of Kazi Kadan

            Mian Mir was born in Sistan in 957 A.H. and died at Lahore in 1045 A.H. at thee advanced age of 88 years, having lived at Lahore for a period of about sixty years.  Of his death Dara Shekoh informs us in the Sakinat-ul-Aulia:-

             His longevity is said to have been due to his practice of suspending the breath to which he was accustomed, and it is said he used to respire only once or twice in the course of a night.  When he began to feel the wight of years, he breathed four times in the night.  In piety, virtue, beneficence and learning he had no equal in the country in the age in which he lieved.  He had great respect for the saint of Gilan, the Pir Dastgir, and never mentioned his name without ablution.

            The dome over the tomb is supported by a quadrangular tower rising from a large platform of marble, reached by a fight of steps of the same material.  The courtyard is spacious and paved with red sand stone.  To the west of the dome, in the same courtyard, is a beautiful mosque, and to the south and east are chambers for the accommodation of the Dervishes and traveler’s.

            Below the marble stairs are two isolated tombs, one of marble, and the other of solid masonry.  Once of these is that of Mahomed Sharif, son of Jamal Khatun, sister of Mian Mir, who became the first Sajjada Nishair after the death of the saint and died on 5th Rajab 1054 A.H. and the other that of Haji Mahomed Saleh who died a month after Mian Mir, or on 4th Rabi-ul-Awal, 1045 A.H. (1635 A.D.).   

            Prince Dara Shekoh was the disciple of Shah Mahomed, aliasd Mullah Shah, a native of Badakshan, the disciple of Mian Mir. Mulla Shah was a man of much piety, and was a great orator of his time, and a poet.  Both Mian Mir and Mulla Shah pre-deceased Dara shekoh, who constructed a spacious mausoleum over the remains of his Pir, Mullah Shah, and had commenced building a more superb shrine over the remains of Mian Mir, when he was murdered at Delhi by his crafty brother, Aurangzeb.  The costly stones which covered the tomb of Mulla tomb of Mian Mir and of the mosque attached to it covered with marble, is the work of Dara Shekoh.  The upper portion, built of masonry, it the work of Aurangzeb, who, with the materials collected by Dara for the tomb of Mian Mir, and the construction of a road from Chauk Dara to Mian Mir, built the Badshahi mosque at Lahore, bearing his name.  According to Dara Shekoh, the saint was buried in the suburbs of Alam Ganj and Darapur, described as half a kos distant form the town, but no vestige of urban habitation now remains here.  Mulla Abdul Hamid Lahori writes in his Babshahnama:-

  His revered tomb is in the village Ghiaspur is in the village Ghaisapur in the vicinity of Alam Ganj in the capital of Lahore.

            Besides the fair of the anniversary, other fairs are held at this mausoleum during the two months of the rainy season, on each Wednesday.  They are called the Budh fairs.

     Speaking of the accomplishments of Mian Mir, Dara Shekoh writes in the Sakinat-ul-Aulia, Although my grandfather (Jahangir) put little faith in fakirs, he entertained the greatest esteem for Mian Mir Bala Pir (the high priest).  He once invited the Sheikh and received him with great respect.  The Sheikh had a long conversation with His Majesty, in which he dwelt chiefly on the instability of the world.  The oration had such an effect on the Emperer mind that he expressed a desire to become the Sheikh disciple and abandon the world.  The Sheikh, however, admonished him to continue in his worldly pursuits, observing that kings had been made for the protection of God people, and that, in presiding over them, he was discharging an important duty entrusted to him by the Creator.  The Emperor was much pleased to hear this, and said to the fakir, Tell me, O Sheikh ! if you want any thing The Sheikh replied, I shall ask you one thing, will you promise to give it to me.  Most certainly, I will grant it, rejoined the Emperor.  On this said the holy Sheikh,  My only want is that Your Majesty would not give me the trouble of coming to you again.  With the assurnce from the Emperor that he would be no more troubled to visit him, the Sheikh with drew.

            But the Emperor continued to submit his autograph letters to the Sheikh, of which Dara Shekoh as inserted copies of two in his work already referred to.  In these the fakir is asked for spiritual aid and for prayers in his behalf for the success of his arms in Kandahar. 

             The author of the Badshandma says : “His Majesty (Shah Jahan) used to say that, in his whole life, he had come across two fakirs having the knowledge of God one Mian Mir and the other Shekh Mahomed Fazlulla of Burhanpur.  His Majesty felt the greatest reverence for both these saints.  We have stated in the historical chapter of this work that Shah Jahan, while Emperor of Hindustan, twice paid a visit to Mian Mir, on his march to Kashmir and back.

            In the Sakinat-ul-Aulia the following chronogram, composed by Mulla Fathulla Shah, a disciple of Mian Mir, is given.  It is also inscribed on the gate of the tomb:- 

            Mian Mir, the chief of the pious,

            The dust of whose portals is envied by the stone of the alchemist,

            Travelled to the city of eternity,

            Being disgusted with this world of sorrow:

            Reason said for the year of his death,

            Mian Mir has gone to the highest heaven.

            The last line gives the year of death 1045 A.H. (1635 A.D.).