The Jama Masjid, also known as the Friday Mosque of Gulbarga, the Great Mosque of Gulbarga Fort, and formally as the Jamia Masjid - Qila-e-Hasham, is a

Friday mosque A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.See: * * * * ...

located in

Kalaburagi Kalaburagi, formerly known as Gulbarga, is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka, It is headquarters of eponymous Kalaburagi district and Kalaburagi division, Kalaburagi city is governed by a Municipal Corporation, It is called a Sufi ci ...

(formerly known as ''Gulbarga''), in the state of

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

, India. The mosque is located within the

Gulbarga Fort The Gulbarga Fort is located in Kalaburagi in the Kalaburagi district of North Karnataka. The fort was originally constructed by the Hindu monarch Raja Gulchand, and it was subsequently significantly enlarged in 1347 by Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah o ...

complex, in Kalaburagi. In 2014,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

placed the building on its "tentative list" to become a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

, under the name

Monuments and Forts of the Deccan Sultanate The Deccan sultanates were five Medieval India#Early modern period, early modern kingdoms, namely Sultanate of Bijapur, Bijapur, Sultanate of Golconda, Golkonda, Ahmadnagar Sultanate, Ahmadnagar, Bidar Sultanate, Bidar, and Berar Sultanate, B ...

History

The mosque was built in 1367 by

Bahmani Sultan The Bahmani Kingdom or the Bahmani Sultanate was a late medieval Persianate kingdom that ruled the Deccan plateau in India. The first independent Muslim Deccan sultanates, sultanate of the Deccan, the Bahmani Kingdom came to power in 1347 duri ...

Mohammed Shah I Mohammed Shah I (reigned 1358–1375) was the second ruler of the Bahmani Sultanate, a late medieval kingdom of India. He succeeded his father Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah. He initiated the Bahmani–Vijayanagar War with two neighboring kingdom ...

to commemorate the establishment of the capital in Gulbarga following the defeat Kapaya Nayaka of

Warangal Warangal () is a city in the Indian state of Telangana and the district headquarters of Warangal district. It is the second largest city in Telangana with a population of 811,844 per 2011 Census of India, and spreading over an . Warangal serv ...

. The mosque was designed by a Persian architect, Rafi, and built within the Kalaburagi Fort complex. It is one of the earliest Friday mosques in South India.

Architecture

The Kalaburagi Friday Mosque is notable for its divergence from typical mosque architecture of the time. The basic layout is similar to that of a courtyard mosque, except that the central courtyard is covered by sixty-three small domes. The mosque also lacks

minarets A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

, instead having four larger domes at each corner of the mosque. Three of the four outer walls are also open to sunlight, while the

qibla The qibla () is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Great Mosque of Mecca, Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the salah. In Islam, the Kaaba is believed to ...

is solid.

Gallery

Archs@Jama Masjid.jpg, Arches inside the mosque Arches@Jama Masjid.jpg, Arches inside the mosque Gulbarga Jami Masjid interior 2.jpg, Arches inside the mosque Gulbarga Jami Masjid interior.jpg, Another view of arches inside the mosque Gulbarga Jama Masjid 2.jpg, Entrance of the mosque, constructed in the

Moorish The term Moor is an exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a single, distinct or self-defi ...

style Gulbarga Jama Masjid.jpg, View of the mosque, in

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

, covered with seasonal grass

Notes

References

External links

* 14th-century mosques in India Bahmani architecture Buildings and structures completed in 1367 Buildings and structures in Kalaburagi district

Gulbarga Kalaburagi, formerly known as Gulbarga, is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka, It is headquarters of eponymous Kalaburagi district and Kalaburagi division, Kalaburagi city is governed by a Municipal Corporation, It is called a Sufi c ...