Shah Raju (Sufi saint of Hyderabad)

Mark Zebrowski writes that before Abul Hasan became sultan of Golconda in 1672 he lived at Gulbarga, site of the shrine of the fifteenth-century Sufi Gesudaraz, as a follower of the famous saint Shah Raju, Gesudaraz's direct descendant; he spent fourteen years of his youth as Shah Raju's pupil at the shrine. Shah Raju went with his pupil to Hyderabad and had great influence at court. ^{1 2}

Shah Raju wrote in Urdu and popularised the composing of marthiyas, dirges on the martyrdom of Hasan and Husain, sons of Ali. He and his son Akbar Shah Husaini are still, the author notes, greatly venerated by the Muslims of the Deccan. ¹

Two portraits of him by royal artists survive: one signed by Rahim Khan and an equestrian portrait signed by Rasul Khan, which for the author reflect Bijapuri taste within the Golconda workshop under Abul Hasan. ^{3 1}