Contents
Introduction
Doesn’t the marvelous and dazzling architecture of Jama Masjid make it one of the most beautiful mosques in India? Yes, it does. The Jama Masjid of Delhi, which was originally called as the Masjid e Jahan Numa is among one of the largest mosques in India, established in 1656 with the construction cost of Rupees 1,000,000 at that time. As far as the length and the width of the mosques are concerned, then they are 40 meters or 130 feet and 27 meters or 89 feet respectively. There are two minarets and three domes of Jama Masjid, with the height of the Minaret at 41 meters or 135 feet. The materials used for the construction of the Jama Masjid are red sandstone and white marble. Shah Jahan who was the Mughal emperor had got the Jama Masjid built between 1650 and 1656 and Syed Abdul Ghafoor Shah Bukhari from Bukhara had inaugurated it. There are a total of 899 black borders that have been marked on the floors of Jama Masjid for the worshippers.
A brief history of Jama Masjid
As the construction of the Jama Masjid took place by more than 5000 workers, it was completed in 1956, and the entire construction was under the supervision of Saadullah Khan, who was the wazir which means the prime minister during Shah Jahan’s reign. The capacity of the worshippers who can pray in the courtyard spread across 408 square feet stands at approximately 25,000. After the construction of the mosque became over in 1956, Shah Jahan invited Syed Abdul Ghafoor Shah Bukhari from Bukhara, which is in Uzbekistan, to inaugurate the mosque on the 23rd of July 1656. Under Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, this particular iconic mosque of Jama Masjid is considered to be among the last monuments to be built and completed. Until the end of the Mughal period, Jama Masjid remained the royal mosque of the emperors. And today, Jama Masjid of Delhi is the center of attention in India for many tourists and visitors from inside the country and for many from across the world.
The architecture of Jama Masjid
Jama Masjid is considered to be among the best mosques built during the Mughal empire because of its best quality of mixture of limestone and marble. As far as the gates of the mosque are concerned, there are three gates of the mosque in North, South, and East. The northern and the southern gates have 39 and 33 steps respectively, while the eastern gate has 35 steps and the eastern gate also used to be considered as the Royal entrance. As far as the lofty minarets are concerned, they consist of five storeys with the first three storeys made of red sandstone and the 4th and the 5th storeys made of marble and sandstone respectively. The Dome of the mosque consists of 130 steps. As far as the length and the width of the mosque of Jama Masjid are concerned, they are 261 feet or 80 meters and 90 feet or 27 meters respectively. And the measurement of the prayer Hall of Jama Masjid is 61 meters in length and 27.5 meters in breadth. The floor of Jama Masjid is marked for the Muslim worshippers with a thin black border with the measurement of 3 feet or 0.91 meters long and 1.5 feet or 0.46 meter wide, and a total of 899 such boxes have been made on the floor.
Final point
Jama Masjid has got its glory in its history, and its beauty even becomes more with the sundial, a lamp, and prayer mat shapes that are there on the surface along with the arcs in the mosque. Whether it’s the balcony or the courtyard or whether it’s the exterior wall or the prayer area, there was detailed and careful planning for the construction of the mosque, which was done at the time of the reign of Shah Jahan to make this mosque special for everyone. Jama Masjid of Delhi is truly one of the best monuments in India, and we all have witnessed it by looking at its greatness in its structures.
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I’m Mohammad Zahid Hussain, a Content Writer, Spoken English, IELTS and PTE Trainer. I’m also a Professional English-Hindi and Hindi-English Translator, Editor and Proofreader. I’m a graduate from Jamia Millia Islamia University, and I’m here to share my articles on a wide range of topics to help you enhance your insights into various things to provide you with factual information and creative analysis.
