MOSQUES…..

MOSQUE..QUWWAT UL
• FIRST PHASE…ISLAM
original mosque …PHASES
with a
• courtyard and ablution water body, The minar was
not part of
• porticoes on three sides with an eastern entrance, and
thecomplex as it
• hypostyle hall on the fourth, western side was built later….
• with the five pointed arched Maqsura screen
• and the minaret in the south east corner.
• Material reused from Hindu and Jain temples

QUTB-
UD-
DIN
AIBAK
 MOSQUE..QUWWAT UL ISLAM I
…PHASES L
T
• PHASE TWO…first expansion by Iltutmish..
• Another colonnade with courtyard , symmetrically on two sides to include U
the minar inside the precinct. T
• Extension of the Maqsura screen M
I
• Worship space increased by three times with the rare experience of a
S
circumambulation within circumambulation like the temple cities. H
Maqsura screens also extended on two sides.
MOSQUE...QUWWAT UL ISLAM …
• PHASE THREE….Second PHASES
expansion by Alauddin Khalji.
• Asymmetrical addition of another set of porticoes with the largest open space
set to highlight the ambitious Alai Minar to ostensibly overshadow the
previous Qutb Minar, increasing it by six times its original size.
• At regular intervals entrance gates or Darwazas..of which the one completed
standing is the Alai Darwaza.

If the minar in the

centre of the court
were to take all the
attention away from
the mosque what
does it say ….

ALAUDDIN
KHALJI
 TOMB OF ILTUTMISH

A
l
A
I

D
A
R ALAI MINAR
W
A
Z
A

The size of the courtyard, the screen the and ofcourse the Minar clearly more
ostentatious…the square shape of the new one exactly same as older one
including entrance passage.
If Alai Darwaza is the main entrance, it would mean one has to bypass the older
edifice to reach the newer one…
ALAI DARWAZA…
•The Alai Darwaza represents the basic
module of cube and the hemisphere in both
structure and decoration. The arches,
squinches and domes are all constructed in
real arches of voussoirs.
• The stern profile of the pointed arch softened
with bands of inscriptions on the curve and
pairs of slender pilasters like in Hindu temples
for jambs.
• The inner side of the arch decorated with ‘a garland of buds’ called spear
head fringes, representative of the Jain Toran.
• Two storied structure with blind windows in the non existential second floor
reduced the volume to human proportion
• Use of hexagonal jaalis in the arched windows to conveniently control
illumination of the large space.
Pilasters give the appearance of supporting columns but are wall extensions.
The red and white alternate pattern gives the structure great delicacy.
MOSQUE..FIRUZ SHAH
TUGHLAQ
• The architectural trait common to all the mosques was
the adoption of the ‘pseudo- militaristic’ style of
Ghiasuddin in the structuring of even such religious
edifices….
• Kali masjid
• Kalan masjid
• Khirki
• Begumpura
• This was achieved not by making the entire outer wall
sloping as in fortresses but by locating tapering circular
plan quions at the corners , and the entrances and wall
of the Maqsura screen.
MOSQUE..FIRUZ SHAH
TUGHLAQ
• Mosques raised above the ground
substantially ..3.5m or so reached by a
flight of steps, giving reasonable height
to the basement in arched niches used
for rooms for priests, visitors, shops,
dorms.
THE ENTIRE EDIFICE LOOKS GRAND…
FROM HERE ON, THE
PORTAL TAKES
CENTRESTAGE,DOME IS
HIDDEN
Huge entrances with corner
buttressed pylon like structure
repeated in the façade of the
Liwaan, with massive arched
openings.
IRUZ SHAH TUGHLAQ
• In the rare case of the Khirki Mosque… motivated
by a need to provide shaded prayer space in the
hot summers, built a closed Sahn…using domes
and flat roofs with symmetrically placed skylights
for light and ventilation.
• Climatologically satisfactory but was a huge
psychological setback…for the egalitarian concept
of congregation… dividing and
compartmentalizing the faithful….and so was
rejected….
the congregational
aspect of prayer is
inviolate for the
muslims.
 •THE SENSE OF THE
MOSQUE..KHIRKI QUIBLA SIDE SO
CLEARLY EXPRESSED
INTERNALLY AND IN
THE ELEVATION IS
COMPLETELY
MISSING
•IN THE CENTRAL
PORTION THE
LINEARITY OF
PRAYING IS
DISTURBED.

•THE ENCLOSED SAHN WITH SKYLIGHTS

•FLIGHT OF STEPS LEADING TO AN ELEVATED
PLINTH OF THE MOSQUE
•CIRCULAR QUOINS AT CORNERS AND
ENTRANCES.
Vying for superiority..the dome and portal … hugely enlarged domes, seen even
behind a huge portal in Humayun’s tomb, as also in the Taj….. the dome
ofcourse completely missing in Akbar’s tomb at Sikandra.
 T

OSQUE…LODIS.. U
G
H
L
A
Q
• Did away with the turrets and quoins and worked
instead on the bold arches and boat keel domes.
However, as a sort of hangover from the Tughlaq
period, the rear wall of the Liwaan did keep the
buttressed turrets.

L
O
D
I

Moth- ki- masjid Jamala mosque

MOSQUE…SHER SHAH
• THE Qila Kunha mosque is
considered a watermark of pre-
Mughal mosque design, with its
convincing air of architectural
mastery.
• Revival of building arts in Delhi.,
accepting the five arches and dome
as the Liwaan façade but treating
the arch detail differently.
• Series of four clearly contoured
Tudor arches some with the spear
profile installed within rectangular
frames, set in different planes to
give a vibrancy due to the play of
light.
OSQUE…SHER SHAH..
Even in the roof, there is
experimentation… there is a dome on
squinches and also stalactites and
semi vaults.
 Liwaan façade
showing the set of
five arched openings
and the dome
behind. The scale of
the portal having
gone down
considerably, the
dome is seen clearly
from behind.

Even here in the rear façade the buttressed

pylons of the Tughlaq era remain.
OSQUE…MUGHALS..SIKRI
• The entire complex is oriented with respect to
the inviolate rule of the direction of the mosque
and given its due by being placed at the
summit
• Clearly seen what can be called the
‘Hinduisation’ and that too not just in the plan
but also the details.
• Also testimony to the tolerant and secular
attitude of Akbar, wherein he gave the Hindu
architects the opportunity to realize the way in
which the courtyard relates to a sanctuary.
• The plinth with a huge flight of steps was
incidental to the site rather than a conscious UNIQUE IN THAT IT HAS
effort to raise it like the Tughlaqs. MANY OTHER EDIFICES
IN THE COURTYARD…
 FATEHPUR SIKRI -Dargah
complex….

1.Buland Darwaza. 2. Jamaat Khana 3.Zanana Rauza 4. Salim Chisti’s tomb

5.Jama Masjid 6. courtyard.
 FATEHPUR SIKRI…Dargah
• complex
Is the site where the saint Salim Chisti actually lived. It has….
• The MOSQUE facing east that is with the Quibla wall in the west.
• Buland Darwaza a towering gateway added later to commemorate victory over the
Deccan. It is in the form of an octagonal frame 40m in height with a central portal
and side wings 3 storied high and a roof having kiosks.
• Original entrance called the Badshahi Darwaza from where Akbar entered the
complex for prayers in the form of a projecting half hexagon.
• Salim Chisti’s tomb in the courtyard where he preached. It stands out as being the
only edifice in white marble as against the other red sandstone ones. It is
renowned for its fine marble work particularly in the screens surrounding the grave
where there is also a space for circumambulation.
• Jama Masjid whose dome sits on corbelled pendentives.
• Jamaat Khana …used as an assembly hall where the distinguished disciples of
Chisti gathered for devotion, and also has graves of disciples.
• Sandwiched between the two is Zanana Rauza …containing graves of the women
of his family….also calle the Yaaran Chabutra or the friends platform.
SQUE…MUGHALS…SIKRI
•The design thus has like in temples,
all four sides enclosed by identical
arcades and treated the sanctuary as a
detatched building.
•The Liwaan was divided in to the
principle one and two ancillary ones on
either side….seemed like the trinity of
Indian gods.
•The circular arrangement of cells ..in
a traditional mosque there would be
only arcades but never adjoining
rooms….with ancient Indian motifs
seem to be adaptation from Buddhist
rock cut monasteries or even Jain and
Hindu temples.
FATEHPUR SIKRI…Dargah complex.
….tomb of Salim Chisti…
 FATEHPUR SIKRI.
…Dargah complex..the two Darwazas.
 FATEHPUR SIKRI…Dargah
complex

Jamaat Khana

Zanana Rauza
• The Jami Masjid built by
the Mughal emperor Shah
Jahan was the last great
MOSQUE.MUGHALS..DE
one of that dynasty.
• The attempt at Sikri to
develop a specifically
Indo- Islamic form of
mosque by incorporating
native ideas was taken
over by Shah Jahan’s
architects and culminated
in the altogether classical
form.
• While they did study the
one at Sikri, they adhered
Thus the one at Delhi acquired a
to the prototype wherever
unique degree of clarity particularly in
it fit and altered any
the way in which the mosque sits in a
weaknesses.
court.
 MOSQUE…
•
MUGHALS..DELHI…Jami
High plinth-Tughlaq
Masjid
• Huge entrance portal in cardinal
directions, the main one in the
east much bugger than the
others-Tughlaq
• Corner Chhatris- Hindu
• White Onion dome huge enough
to be seen from behind a
massive portal-Humayun’s tomb
• Vertical striped minarets
• Triad of domes in Liwaan
taken from Akbars Sikri
• Grand and spectacular
proportions AND PROJECTION
IN COURT- SHAH JAHAN
MOSQUE….MUGHALS..DELHI.
.Jami Masjid
MOSQUE….MUGHALS..DELHI.
.Jami Masjid
 C
h
H
A
T
R
I
s

•Flight of steps leading to the

massive plinth
•Edges in the form of open
colonnades with low parapets but at
eye level from inside and a floor
above ground from
outside..connection to outside but
with demarcation…
Liwaan into three parts with three domes
complete with the front portal and minarets. The Mihrab seen as a simple
…but seen as a massive projection in to the framed niche along with the
court…. modest Mimbar or pulpit for the
preacher.

The bulbous domes seen with white

marble cladding offsetting the rest of
the red sandstone edifice …a design
from the Humayun’s tomb.
the mosque….Congregational prayer…inviolate rule for the faithful….