India, June 4 -- Afternoon daylight is entering the kitchen through two large windows, falling softly across the floor. The eye though is immediately drawn to massive cooking pans lined along the walls. One pan contains boiled rice, another contains yellow masoor dal. Some pans are severely blackened by years of use over open fires.

The kitchen (see right photo) is huge and airy, and is part of a sprawling Sufi shrine in South Delhi's Mehrauli. This historic dargah is the resting place of the 13th century Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki. The long history of the sacred site is reflected in the hundreds of centuries-old marble graves spread across the premises. Also notable is the shrine's aforementioned kitchen, which se...