Aaj Basant manale, suhagan, aaj Basant manale
Anjan-manjan kar piya mori, lambe nehar lagale

Unchi naari ke unche chitvan, aiso diyo hai banaye
Shah Amir tuhe dekhan ko, naino se nain milaye
Aaj Basant manale suhagan

When people from different cultures and walks of life come together to celebrate something that is beyond boundaries, it gives rise to a feeling of relief that leads only to pure joy.

Sufi Basant is one such moment. There is nothing more fulfilling than witnessing large groups of people, all dressed in yellow, dancing and clapping to the soulful music of Sufi qawwals, as petals of mustard and marigold flowers shower upon them from the sky. This dream vision is witnessed every year at the Dargah of Sufi Saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, where a centuries-old Spring tradition thrives with great enthusiasm and joy.

Sufi Basant, as it is called, is traced back to an event where Amir Khusrow, a poet and disciple was saddened by the grief of the Sufi Saint, who was mourning the loss of his dear nephew. Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, who had no children of his own, was very close to his nephew. The nephew, it is said, died of a disease that deeply saddened the saint. His grief, in turn, worried his closest disciple, Amir Khusrow. Legend says that Khusrow then came across a bunch of women dressed in yellow saris, carrying flowers and dancing. Curious, he approaced them and enquired the meaning of this celebration. The women answered that they were practicing a ritual to please their deity. Khusrow was excited by the prospect of pleasing his ‘deity’, that is, the Sufi Saint himself, and thus appeared in front of him in a sari, adorned with yellow flowers and began to sing and dance for him. His act lifted the mood of the saint and brought a smile on his face. Ever since, Sufi Basant is celebrated every year to mark the arrival of Spring, and to celebrate the pure love between Saint and disciple.

The ritual, like every year, began at 4:45 PM, when the ceremonial prayer was carried out, and a yellow sheet or chadar was placed on the Saint’s grave, along with mustard flowers. As the dargah blossomed in mesmerizing incense, qawwals sand hymns of Amir Khusrow as devotees reveled in the celebration of Spring.