At approximately 4:30 in the afternoon, I entered the premises of Nizamuddin Dargah. It was February 14 and the annual celebrations of Basant Panchami were all set to take off. As soon as I was inside the complex, a spectacle in bright yellow welcomed me along with faint but melodious strains of qawwali dedicated to Khwaja Nizamuddin drifting through the throngs of people. "Nothing has much to do with religion, it all started with a smile of Hazrat Nizamuddin," said Syed Rumman Nizami, an erstwhile engineer who is one of the caretakers of the Dargah and bears the distinguished lineage of being a twenty-first generation descendant of Nizamuddin Auliya, tracing his ancestry through the line of his sister's sons.
"In one of the terrible Delhi winters, Khwaja's nephew had succumbed to death, leaving him thoroughly aggrieved. For four months, Khwaja carried on in that state," narrated Nizami. "Then one fine spring day, on the eve of Basant Panchami, Hazrat Amir Khusrau saw that across the Yamuna, some Punjabis were celebrating Basant, celebrating happiness, when he got the idea of bringing a smile on his mentor's face," he related to me. Continuing, he said, "Dressed all in yellow, Hazrat Khusrau reached the doors of Khwaja with a dholak and started singing new kalams, like you must have heard today in Khari Boli, Hindi, Khil rahi sarson, Aaj basant mana le suhagan, which carried the essence that one season has ended and another is here; a season of new birth and rejuvenation. It was hearing these songs that Hazrat Nizamuddin had smiled, and ever since, we celebrate this day."
"After the sheet (chadar) hanging in the dargah of both Hazrat Nizamuddin and Hazrat Amir Khusrau along with the short qawwali session, roshni ki dua (prayer of light) follows. It is a practice done each day before maghrib (evening prayer)," said Nizami. The roshni ki dua is a tradition where a prayer is read addressed to Nizamuddin Auliya and lamps are lit to brighten up the khanqah. This time is considered particularly auspicious for seeking blessings from the saint.
"What has changed over the years is that what previously used to be a family festival has now opened its gates for whoever the Baba (Nizamuddin Auliya) wishes to come," Nizami said about the celebrations. The Basant Panchami at Nizamuddin Dargah, Delhi, has existed for centuries and continued ever since, attracting more and more people each year.