Khwaja Sahib

This painting of a gathering of mystics was painted during the reign of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, probably between about 1650 and 1655. It depicts Sufi saints and courtiers in the shrine of Muin ad-Din Chishti , the supposed founder of the order of Chishti sufis in Hindustan in the 11th century. They are in the presence of dervishes who attempt to attain mystical states by ecstatic dancing, music, and chanting. Three Muslim saints are among them: Qutb ad-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki, who died in 1235, Muin ad-Din Chishti himself (he died in 1236) and Mullah Shah Badakhshi who was still alive at the time the painting was done. In the forground, a group of Hindu figures, members of various eclectic groups, are identified by minuscule inscriptions.

The painting was once in the collection of Warren Hastings, Governor-General of India from 1774-1785.