BharatNotes Dargah
noun (countable)Usage in a UPSC answer
The Ajmer Dargah of Moinuddin Chishti, visited annually by millions of Hindu and Muslim pilgrims and historically patronised by Mughal emperors from Akbar to Aurangzeb, represents the institutional apex of Indian Sufi shrine culture and the geographic anchoring of the Chishti silsila's authority.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
dargah (noun), mazar (related Arabic noun — tomb/shrine), khanqah (related Persian noun — Sufi hospice), ziarat (related Arabic noun — pilgrimage to a shrine), urs (related Arabic noun — death anniversary celebration at dargah)
Root
Persian dargāh = royal court, threshold, holy portal; from dar (door, gate, threshold) + gāh (place, station) → 'place of the threshold/gate'
Etymology
From Persian dargāh (royal court, divine threshold), combining dar (door, gate — cognate with Sanskrit dvāra) and gāh (place, station — from gāhidan, to abide). Originally meaning the royal court or threshold of a monarch, the term was spiritually elevated to designate the threshold of a saint's presence — first the living saint's gathering place (khanqah) and, after death, his tomb. The usage is first attested in Sufi Persian poetry of the 11th–12th centuries.
Memory Hook
DARGAH = DOOR-GAH (place): it is literally the 'place of the door/threshold' — you cross a threshold into the saint's divine presence. The door (dar) between the world and the sacred.
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