Qadam-l-Rasool

A large roof designed with beautiful images from Ismalic art and ornate minarets mark the 18th century Muslim shrine in Cuttack, Qadam-l-Rasool (Footprint of the Messenger). Located in the busy Jail Road area in Cuttack, the dargah was built in Indo-Islamic architectural style by Shujauddin Mohammed Khan. It spreads over an area of 57 acres and has a high compound wall with towers at each of the four corners. A large minaret in the centre of the dargah, bearing the crescent and the star, is complimented by nine small minarets that have been designed with wood carvings and lacquer craft. The Qadam-e-Rasool or the footprint of the Messenger has been placed inside a metal basin in the centre of the dargah, which also has a music gallery known as Nawabat Khana. There are three smaller mosques inside the shrine.

Cuttack-based historian Amal Kumar Mishra says footprint of the Prophet Mohammad engraved in a circular stone was brought to Cuttack by Haji Syed Alimullah, a close relative of Syed Hashim of Mashar of Persia, from Najab in Arabia with the signature of the Sheriff of Mecca. The sacred relic was kept under a tree at the remote Kukuriapada village in Cuttack district to testify its power and genuineness. "When people in the village and nearby areas started getting cured of many ailments, the then deputy nazim Shujauddin Mohammed Khan decided to bring it to its present location, which is Cuttack town," he says. A similar relic can be found in Dargah Qadam Sharif in New Delhi.