Hazrat Malik Rehan Dargah, Sira

Right from the days when Bangalore-Pune road was called NH-4, I wanted to see this monument closely. Back then the highway passed through the town, the Dargah was a stone's throw from the road. I've passed by this monument countless times but somehow I could never check it out closely. Finally, on July-31-2019, Pushpa and I were traveling from Dharwad to Bangalore, I decided to take out time. I parked the car under an old tamarind tree, nice shade. Pushpa decided to stay in the car.

Here's the beautiful domed tomb of Malik Rehan, the governor of Sira from 1638 to 1650 CE. Sira was the capital of Suba province during the Mughal rule. It is said that Malik Rehan was revered by his subjects as a holyman so he was known as Hazrath Mallik Rehan Rahmatullah Alai and his tomb is considered as a Dargah. It seems to be a popular religious place, people come here with wishes and prayers, seeking blessings of this Dargah.

This building sits on a 5' high platform which has two flights of steps, one each on northern and eastern sides. In plan, its a square. All the four sides have five equal sized arches. Take a closer look at the overhang, it seems like Hindu temple architecture though the dome and minars are Islamic.

The pair of lotuses accompanying every arch are copies from Hindu temples. Anyhow, the builders have done a good job, the building has withstood centuries.

Behind the arches is the sanctum with a perambulation around it.

As I climbed the flight of steps and crossed over the threshold, I happened to notice this strip of steel embedded into the stone blocks. Such strips can be seen right back in Chalukyan temples.

The perambulation is quite wide, three people can walk side by side comfortably. Notice the arched door way and the colorfully painted door. The sanctum has three such doors, I think. The east facing was kept open. Inside was a grave covered in silky green cloth and lot of peacock feathers.

More lotuses on the walls. I have a feeling this was either built by temple builders or a temple originally.

Besides the Dargah is mosque-madarasa. A class was in progress, few kids were distracted by my presence.

What a lovely tamarind tree! Most temples and mosques in northern Karnataka have tamarind trees close to them. Sira somewhat has that ambiance.

On the southern side of the Dargah is this half built structure which is a temple, quite sure of that. Notice the door frame on the left side, its rectangular. Looks like the structure was being modified when the work was abandoned for some reason.

On the northern side is another tomb, flat top but has four minars.

The white domed structure seems like a Mantapa. On its left is a roofless structure with a mesh screen which is typically seen in Hindu temples. Well, we never know if this was a temple-mosque-tomb complex once upon a time like the one at Alampur near Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.

The other tomb, probably of some high ranking state official.

The minar design is interesting, lot of detailed sculpting on it. Sadly the minars have been covered in lime.. Sunna. People are crazy about covering stone with lime, enamel paint, and what not.

Lastly, close to the entrance is this roofless tomb. Architecture is inline with other structures.

This Dargah being a protected monument, probably because of the status its being kept well.

Sira is also known for its fort- Kasturi Rangappa Nayaka fort. Also, on the outskirts of the town, on Sira-Mahugiri highway is an ancient temple known as Aytihasika Anjaneyaswamy Devasthana. The temple has Kannada or Telugu inscriptions dating back to Vijayanagara times.

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