Tawakkal Shah Mastan Vali is considered by his followers to be a Sufi saint from the Suharwardia Order of the 17th century. He is a disciple of the Sufi order of Baba Fakruddin of Penukonda.
Haider Ali initiated work on the dargah in 1777, which was completed in 1783 by Tipu Sultan. The shrine is dedicated to Sufi Saint Hazrat Tawakkal Mastan Baba. The story goes that when Hyder Ali Khan ascended the throne, he wanted to replace the mud walls of the Kalasipalyam fort with stone walls. Three men -- Hazrath Tipu Mastan, Hazarath Manik Mastan and Hazrath Tawakkal Mastan -- came to Bangalore and joined the work force. They were laborers by day and spent the night in prayer without accepting any wages.
A puzzled Hyder wanted to get to the bottom of it. Investigations revealed that the trio went to a mosque in Kumbarpet after work and slept there. When an official went to the mosque to look for them, he saw no one there, only three parts of a human body, with two dogs standing guard. Hyder realised that the three were no ordinary men, but saints.
There is another folklore, according to which, with the blessings of Hazrat Tipu Mastan, Hyder Ali had a son, whom he appropriately named after the saint. It is said that Hazrat Manik Mastan died in Bangalore while Tipu Mastan went away to Arcot in Tamil Nadu. Tawakkal Mastan stayed in Bangalore and settled in Cottonpet. Hyder Ali wanted to present the saint with something, but all he wanted was a mosque be built there.
Another reason why the dargah is so special is that it is associated with the Hindu Karaga festival. The Karaga procession isn’t complete without a visit to the Dargah. There are different versions as to how this came about. Legend has it that that the saint was a mason from Arabia who was involved in the construction of Haidar's fort. He had the misfortune of being trampled on by the crowd during the karaga procession. It is said that he fainted and was revived by some priests who applied kum-kum on his wounds. He then insisted that the procession stop at the dargah every time.
Another legend has it that Hyder Ali wanted to expand and develop Bangalore and brought people of the Thigala community from Tiruchinapalli, Arcot, Thanjavur and Madurai to help him. Among them was a scholar called Dharmaraja who wanted Hyder Ali to build a temple and a muth. Hyder Ali constructed the temple and the muth, named after Dharmaraja Swamy.
Once during the annual Karaga from Dharmaraja Temple, a person carrying the Karaga stopped at Tawakkal Mastan Dargah and asked for his blessings so that the Karaga would not fall off his head (considered sacrilege). Tawakkal blessed him and the tradition continues
Additional Info: The dargah opens at 5 a.m. every day and closes at 11p.m. in night. On Fridays, people in huge number come for jumma namaz in afternoon. After the namaz on Fridays, around 3 p.m. there is a small fair outside the Dargah and people from all the communities come here to worship. An interesting tradition has developed in this Dargah, every morning around 4 a.m. members of usually from Hindu community gather outside the Dargah and take rounds of main dargah building. After that, they feed poor people with idli and sambhar. Apart from the everyday customs and practices, there are three main festivals which are celebrated in the dargah. One is Uruus, the death anniversary of Hazrath Takwal Mastan, second is Karega Festival and third festival is celebrated on Mohramm’s ninth date.
How to Reach: From Kempegowda International Airport the dargah is approx. 36 km. It is very near from Bangalore CY JN station, hardly 10 min walk (750m). From Yelahanka Railway Junction it is about 17 km. Buses are available from Yelahanka station to Kempegowda Bus Station which will be around 45 min ride. From Kempegowda Bus Station dargah is at walkable distance ( 700m)