Sufi Circuit

Bihar was the eastern frontier of Sufism's great orders. Makhdoom Sharfuddin Yahya Maneri, the 14th-century Firdausi master whose letters are still read, lies at Bari Dargah in Bihar Sharif; his ancestor Makhdoom Yahya Maneri at Maner's Bari Dargah, with the exquisite 1616 Chhoti Dargah of Shah Daulat beside it; Pir Shah Nafah inside Munger fort; Hazrat Bibi Kamal, a rare woman saint, at Kako near Jehanabad; and the Phulwari Sharif khanqahs on Patna's edge. Thursday evenings bring qawwali; the Urs calendars bring the crowds.