The Masjid-i-Jahan Numa,
commonly known as Jama Masjid of Delhi is the principal
mosque of Old Delhi in India. Commissioned by the Mughal
Emperor Shah Jahan and completed in the year 1656 AD, it
is one of the largest and best known mosques in India.
It was built after demolition of a very ancient Hindu
temple known as Jamna Devi temple dedicated to the
Yamuna river. (There are also Jama Masjids in many other
cities with a history of Islamic rule, or large Muslim
populations.)
Masjid-i-Jahan Numa means 'the mosque commanding a view
of the world', and the name Jama Masjid is a reference
to the weekly congregation observed on Friday (the yaum
al-jum`a) at the mosque. The courtyard of the mosque can
hold up to twenty-five thousand worshippers. The mosque
also houses several relics in a closet in the north
gate, including a copy of the Qur'an written on deer
skin incurred on the construction in those times was ten
lakh rupees. (A lakh is one hundred thousand; ten lakh
therefore equals one million).
Shah Jahan built several important mosques in Delhi,
Agra, Ajmer and Lahore. The Jama Masjid's floorplan is
very similar to the Moti Masjid at Agra, but the Jama
Masjid is the bigger and more imposing of the two. Its
majesty is further enhanced because of the high ground
that he selected for building this mosque.
Architecture
The courtyard of the mosque can be reached from the
east, north and south by three flights of steps, all
built of red sandstone. The northern gate of the mosque
has 39 steps. The southern side of the mosque has 33
steps. The eastern gate of the mosque was the royal
entrance and it has 35 steps. These steps used to house
food stalls, shops and street entertainers. In the
evening, the eastern side of the mosque used to be
converted into a bazaar for poultry and birds in
general. Prior to the 1857 War of Indian Independence,
there was a madrassah near the southern side of the
mosque, which was pulled down after the mutiny.
The mosque faces west. Its three sides are covered with
open arched colonnades, each having a lofty tower-like
gateway in the centre. The mosque is about 261 feet (80
m) long and 90 feet (27 m) wide, and its roof is covered
with three domes with alternate stripes of black and
white marble, with its topmost parts covered with gold.
Two lofty minarets, 130 feet (40 m) high, and containing
130 steps, longitudinally striped with white marble and
red sandstone, flank the domes on either side. The
minarets are divided by three projecting galleries and
are surmounted by open twelve-sided domed pavilions. On
the back of the mosque, there are four small minarets
crowned like those in the front.
Under the domes of the mosque, is a hall with seven
arched entrances facing the west and the walls of the
mosque, up to the height of the waist, are covered with
marble. Beyond this is a prayer hall, which is about 61
meters X 27.5 meters, with eleven arched entrances, of
which the centre arch is wide and lofty, and in the form
of a massive gateway, with slim minarets in each corner,
with the usual octagonal pavilion surmounting it. Over
these arched entrances there are tablets of white
marble, four feet (1.2 m) long and 2.5 feet (760 mm)
wide, inlaid with inscriptions in black marble. These
inscriptions give the history of the building of the
mosque, and glorify the reign and virtues of Shah Jahan.
The slab over the centre arch contains simply the words
'The Guide!'
The mosque stands on a platform of about five feet (1.5
m) from the pavement of the terrace, and three flight of
steps lead to the interior of the mosque from the east,
north, and the south. The floor of the mosque is covered
with white and black marble ornamented to imitate the
Muslim prayer mat; a thin black marble border is marked
for the worshippers, which is three feet long and 1 ½
feet wide. In total there are 899 such spaces marked in
the floor of the mosque. The back of the mosque is cased
over to the height of the rock on which the mosque
stands with large hewn stones. |