Ajmer Sharif Urs 2026

About Ajmer Sharif Urs

The Ajmer Sharif Urs is the six-day death anniversary of the Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, known as Garib Nawaz, held at his dargah in Ajmer, Rajasthan, from 1 to 6 Rajab in the Islamic calendar. In 2026 it is expected to begin around Friday, 11 December 2026, subject to the Rajab moon being sighted in India. Pilgrims of many faiths come for the qawwali, the chadar offerings and the Qul prayers on Chhati Sharif, the sixth day.

Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti came to India from Sistan, in present-day Iran, and settled in Ajmer in the early 13th century. He died there in 1236, on the sixth of Rajab, and his tomb became the most visited Sufi shrine in South Asia. His followers call him Garib Nawaz, the one who cares for the poor.

In Sufi usage, urs means a wedding. The death of a saint is seen as the day the soul meets God, so the anniversary is kept as a gathering, not a funeral. The Ajmer Urs is the largest of these in India. Railways run extra Garib Nawaz trains, and the dargah receives chadars sent each year by the Prime Minister, a custom the dargah's clerics trace back to 1947. Pakistani pilgrims come under a 1974 India-Pakistan protocol on visits to religious shrines.

How the dates are set

The Urs follows the Hijri calendar, which is about 11 days shorter than the solar year, so it moves earlier every year. In 2025 it fell twice: the 813th Urs in early January and the 814th in late December. The number is easy to work out. Subtract 633, the Hijri year of the saint's death, from the current Hijri year.

The formal start depends on the moon. When the Rajab crescent is sighted in India, the Urs begins that evening, and the first of Rajab is the next day. If the moon is not seen, everything moves by a day. The flag hoisting, which announces the Urs, is also tied to the moon of the month before, so its date is confirmed only a few days ahead. Check the dargah committee's announcement or Ajmer news before you book travel.

1. About 25 Jumada al-Akhirah
   Flag hoisting

   The Gauri family of Bhilwara brings the flag, which is raised on the Buland Darwaza. Pilgrims start arriving.

2. Moon night (eve of 1 Rajab)
   The Urs opens

   Once the Rajab moon is sighted, the Jannati Darwaza is opened and stays open through the Urs.

3. 1 to 5 Rajab
   Chadars and nightly mehfil

   Groups carry chadars to the tomb by day. Each night the Diwan presides over the mehfil-e-sama in the Mahfil Khana, and late at night the tomb is washed with rose water and kewra.

4. 6 Rajab · Chhati Sharif
   The main day

   From about 10 am the khadims read the Shijra, qawwals sing the Badhawa, and the Qul ends with the Fatiha. A cannon marks the close in the early afternoon.

5. After Chhati Sharif
   The big Qul

   A second Qul a few days later formally ends the Urs, and the dargah is washed by devotees.

What happens at the dargah

The Jannati Darwaza. This silver-covered door on the west side of the tomb, also called the Bihishti Darwaza, opens only on a few occasions in the year. The dargah's clerics say four. During the Urs it stays open for all six days, and many pilgrims queue for hours to pass through it, believing that doing so brings the promise of paradise.

Chadars and flowers. A chadar is a cloth, often embroidered velvet or a sheet of roses, laid over the grave as an offering. Families, towns, trade guilds and governments send them. Many groups walk through Ajmer's lanes with the chadar held over their heads, with drums and qawwali.

Qawwali. Music in worship is the Chishti signature. The Mahfil Khana, built in 1888, opens for the nightly mehfil-e-sama only during the Urs, and qawwals also sing in the courtyards through the night. Unusually for a dargah, women can attend the mehfil.

The degs. Two huge cauldrons stand in the courtyard. The larger is linked to Akbar, who made at least 14 visits to the shrine, and the smaller to Jahangir. During the Urs they cook degh ka khana, a sweet rice cooked with ghee, cashews, almonds and raisins, given out as langar and tabarruk. The food is vegetarian, so anyone can eat it.

Chhati Sharif and the Qul. The sixth day is the most crowded. The ceremony inside the shrine follows a fixed order: the reading of the Chishti lineage, the Badhawa (a song of praise sung with clapping and no instruments), and the closing prayers. People who cannot attend often hold a Qul or fatiha at home or in a local dargah the same morning.

Urs

A Sufi saint's death anniversary, from the word for wedding

Chadar

A cloth or sheet of flowers offered over the grave

Jannati Darwaza

The "door of paradise" beside the tomb, opened on a few days a year

Deg

A large cooking cauldron; degh ka khana is the food cooked in it

Qul

The closing prayers of an Urs, ending with the Fatiha

Mehfil-e-sama

A gathering for devotional music

Khadim

A member of the hereditary families who serve at the shrine

Tabarruk

Blessed food or objects brought back from the shrine

Diwan

The Sajjada Nashin, the saint's spiritual successor at the dargah

Who keeps the Urs

Visitors to Ajmer include Sunni Muslims of the Barelvi tradition, Hindus, Sikhs and others who come to ask for a child, a job, a cure or simply peace. Not every Muslim follows shrine practice. Deobandi, Ahl-e-Hadith and Salafi Muslims, among others, do not visit graves for intercession or keep Urs gatherings. So send Urs greetings to people you know honour Khwaja Garib Nawaz, and do not assume it is a festival for every Muslim friend or colleague.

What to write

Keep it short and centred on prayer. People sending wishes often mention the chadar, the Jannati Darwaza, the langar or a dua for a specific need.

Rajab is also the month of Shab-e-Miraj, the night of the Prophet's ascension, about three weeks after the Urs. The Urs is a devotional gathering at one shrine, not a festival every Muslim keeps, as Eid al-Fitr is.

How to wish someone on Ajmer Sharif Urs

An Urs wish is a quiet, devotional one. The usual words are "Urs Mubarak", and the heart of the message is dua, prayers being accepted, and Khwaja's blessing on the family. It suits friends and relatives who visit or honour the dargah, of any faith. Many Muslims do not follow shrine practice, so do not assume every Muslim colleague keeps the Urs. If someone is travelling to Ajmer, asking them to remember you in their dua is the most natural message of all.

Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.

Language tip: English, Urdu + Hindi.

Good to know: Shrine pilgrimage is a Sufi practice that some Muslims do not follow; send Urs greetings to people who visit or honour the dargah.

When is Ajmer Sharif Urs in each year?

Ajmer Sharif Urs is set by the Islamic lunar (Hijri) calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 11 days earlier than in 2026. Ajmer Sharif Urs runs 6 days.

Frequently asked questions