Hazrath Syed Badrudin Shaheed Dargah - Chennai

Note: Thanks to Mr. Kombai Anwar, a Chennai-based historian. Although I have visited this site and the photographs are mine, the historical details in this post are based on the article written by Anwar in The Hindu newspaper dated 15th June 2017.

Santhome, which has become a part of the current Chennai city, was under the control of the Portuguese in the 17th century CE. In 1646 CE, the Golconda forces, under the leadership of Mir Jumla, attacked Santhome.

Syed Shah Badrudin was a soldier of the Golconda cavalry. He climbed up the flagstaff and brought down the Portuguese flag. He also replaced it with the flag of Golconda. It is believed that he was attacked from behind by the Portuguese soldiers. Badrudin was injured very bad. He still managed to travel back on his horse to Pallavaram and finally collapsed there. The legend says that his head was severed, and he picked up his fallen head and traveled to Pallavaram.

Badrudin was buried at the site where he collapsed. It is believed that his family members made their home around this spot. Thus, Badrudin became a martyr a.k.a. Shaheed. Soon, a Dargah came up on this site. Later, his mother and brother were buried on either side.

Today, we could find three enclosures that are open to the sky. The structures are of typical Bijapur-style Indo-Islamic architecture and look very attractive. The big one has the tombs of Badrudin and his family members. His horse and dog were buried in the smaller enclosure.

Happy travelling.