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| Jama (Jami) Masjid |
This is a Shahi Mosque having historical status. This magnificent Jami Mosque occupied the central position in the geographical layout and social life of Ahmedabad. It was erected by Sultan Ahmed Shah in 1424.
The prayer hall is roofed by 15 principal domes with some 260 tall slender and graceful pillars. It was probably the largest Mosque in the Indian Subcontinent built in this period. The Mosque complex is situated on the large rectangular courtyard 75 m long and 66 m wide. One enters the court by three entrances, one at the centre of each side. The courtyard is lined with a colonnade on three sides, the prayer hall occupies the fourth side.
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| Yellow Sandstone Wonder |
In its Indo- saracenic architecture, some of the central domes are carved like lotus flowers, closely related to the typical domes of the Jain Temples; and some of the pillars are carved with the form of bell hanging on a chain, in reference to the bells that often hang in Hindu temples. The wide open courtyard floored with white marble, is ringed by a colonnade painted with giant Arabic Calligraphy and has a tank for ritual ablutions at the center. The mosque and arcades are built with yellow sandstone. While the two principal minarets flanking the main arched entranceway collapsed in the 1819 earthquake, their lower portion still stand. This is all I could gather as far as the history is concerned.
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| Giant Arabic Calligraphy |
Jama Masjid or the Friday Mosque is a place where I chose to visit on a non-Friday to avoid crowd. I’ll suggest one should go there early morning keeping in mind the heat of Gujrat. Yes, because one has to enter without the shoes and it is a huge wide open courtyard. Walking on marble with bare feet under scorching sun can be a bit difficult. In course of taking photos, one has to focus on the subject constantly for a while, there it gets a bit troublesome due to the constant bright reflection of the sun over the white marbled floor, thus I’ll suggest do carry your sunglasses. Well while I was struggling with these two simple yet dominant factors, my son enjoyed chasing the pigeons which sat and flew in harmony.
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| Water Basin for ritual ablutions |
Initially, I got a bit confused between Jami Masjid and Jama Masjid which I found near Sarkhej Roja. Remained contended with it for some time then after compairing the pics on net I realized, No this is not “The Jama Masjid”, thus my search of it began again and all thanks to my husband that finally I could reach the correct destination, must say, worth the trouble.
It is something I’ll recommend. If you include Jami Maszid in your trip list then you can add some more attractions around it like Teen Darwaja, Sayed Siddique Mosque, Ahmed Shah’s Mosque, Rani Sipri’s Mosque. All these are within range of few kms only, so do your study well and don’t miss any. Trust me, it will be an experience to remember.
Well I’ll just add one more thing, that I consider myself immensely lucky that I got this opportunity of visiting a Mosque of this grandure. It was a very humbling experience indeed.
Come to Gujrat come to Jami Masjid.
