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Shahi Jama Masjid

Coordinates: 28°34′51″N 78°34′02″E / 28.58073°N 78.56714°E / 28.58073; 78.56714
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Shahi Jama Masjid Sambhal
Facade of Shahi Jama Masjid
Religion
AffiliationIslam
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusactive
Location
LocationSambhal, Uttar Pradesh, India
Shahi Jama Masjid is located in Uttar Pradesh
Shahi Jama Masjid
Shown within Uttar Pradesh
Geographic coordinates28°34′51″N 78°34′02″E / 28.58073°N 78.56714°E / 28.58073; 78.56714
Architecture
Typemosque
StyleTimurid, Sharqi
CreatorMir Hindu Beg[1][2]
(on orders of Emperor Babur)
Date establishedDecember 6, 1526 (1526-12-06)
Direction of façadeeast[3][4]

Shahi Jama Masjid (Urdu: شاہی جامع مسجد) is the oldest surviving Mughal-era mosque in South Asia. Located in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, it was established during the reign of Babur in December, 1526.[1] The mosque is a protected monument under the Ancient Monuments Protection Act, 1904.[5]

Establishment

Pencil and wash drawing of the Sambhal Jama Masjid; 24 March 1789.[6]

According to an extant inscription on the mihrab mosque was constructed by a general of emperor Babur, Mir Hindu Beg, by 6 December 1526, following orders of Babur.[1][7][8] Thus the mosque was finished seven months after the Battle of Panipat in which Babur conquered Delhi from Ibrahim Lodi.[7]

Both Ram Nath and Catherine Asher, scholars of Mughal architecture, doubt that Babur had any personal involvement.[1][7] Asher suggests that the inscription might have merely alluded to Babur's permission to regional governors to construct mosques in newly gained territories, and calls it a "non-imperial mosque" as opposed to the Panipat mosque which was constructed by Babur himself.[1] Nath believes that Beg might have refurbished an older Lodi-era mosque.[7]

Architecture

The mosque is situated atop the highest hillock in Sambhal, in muhalla Kot, the fortified old town.[9] A gate-complex on the east opens to a rectangular courtyard with a well and an ablution tank.[3][1]

The courtyard leads to the rectangular prayer chamber with a square-shaped central bay. It is covered by a dome, supported by stalactite pendentives, topped by a kalasha pinnacle. On each side of the central chamber, there is a three-bayed double-aisled arcades, accessible by doorways. The side wings are covered by low flat domes.[3][1][2]

A peculiar feature of the mosque is the presence of two small rectangular chambers behind the qibla wall of the central chamber. These rear chambers open to the side wings.[10] The exterior walls of the feature are flanked with large octagonal towers.[10]

Scholars have noted a high degree of similarity with the Sharqi architecture of Jaunpur, especially in the usage of stone-masonry—covered in plaster—as the chief building material and the use of iwans; Catherine Asher suggests a reliance on local artisans.[3][1] John Burton-Page, a scholar of Indian architecture, notes the mosque to be imposing but "utterly undistinguished" in architectural novelty.[11]

Inscriptions on the mihrab attest to repairs undertaken in 1625–26 and 1656–57; in the former, the mosque was referred to as an "old mosque".[12] Records of the mosque-keeper include a confirmation of the office in 1689 and multiple revenue-grants towards the maintenance of the mosque across the eighteenth century.[13]

Two inscriptions above the outer and inner arches of the central chamber record restorations effected by local Muslims about 1845.[14]

Claims of converted Hindu temple

Perspective view of the mosque at Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh; March 1789.[6]

Abul Fazl, the court chronicler of emperor Akbar, recorded in A'in-i-Akbari that Sambhal had a temple called Hari Mandal (Vishnu temple). The tenth of avatar of Vishnu, called Kalki, was believed to appear among the descendants of the Brahmin priest of that temple.[15] Other scholars of Mughal court have also written about the temple, using names such as Har Mandir,[16] and Har Mandil.[17] These narrations are in line with Hindu religious texts.[18][19][a]

In 1745, Ānand Rām Mukhliṣ, a Hindu scholar and official of the Mughal court, toured Sambhal and recorded the claim that Hari Mandal had been converted into a mosque.[22][23] He recounted a line from Sikh Dasam Granth to identify the context of the temple:

Great is the fortune of Sambhal
Where Harji will come to the Harmandal.[23][b]

Mukhlis quoted an inscription on one of the arches saying that the mosque was constructed by Hindu Beg. However, he claimed that it was Babur's son, Humayun, who ordered the conversion of the temple to a mosque after receiving the district as his jagir. He also narrated that the Hindu pilgrims were still coming to a neighbouring tank and bathing in it as it was considered holy, with brahmin priests and flower-sellers standing by.[25] Mukhlis did not take umbrage at the conversion of the temple, remarking that what was a place of worship continued to be one.[26]

In 1770, Aḥmad ʿAlī, a scribe under the employment of East India Company, toured Sambhal and produced an account similar to Mukhliṣ.[27] About two decades later, Thomas Daniell and William Daniell etched two drawings of the mosque while travelling through Sambhal, noting it to be "on the site of a Hindoo temple."[28]

In 1874, British archaeologist A. C. L. Carlleyle, working for the Archaeological Survey of India, surveyed the mosque and, according to Alexander Cunningham, determined that it was a converted Hindu temple.[29] Carlleyle's report states that the bricks of the central bay were stripped of their stone casings before being plastered over, that the stones in the courtyard pathway contained fragments of Hindu sculptures underneath, and that the new bricks used for the side bays were smaller than those of the central bay.[30] Thus, Carlleyle proposed that the central bay was indeed a Hindu temple that was converted into a mosque—wherein the stone casings with sculptures were stripped and repurposed as footsteps out of aniconic impulses—and followed up with the addition of new side bays.[30]

Howard Crane, a scholar of Islamic art and architecture doubts that the site of the mosque could have been ever occupied by a temple.[3] In contrast, Ram Nath, a scholar of Mughal architecture, agrees that a temple was converted into the mosque and notes the pillars of the temple to have been reused.[7][31][32]

Disputes during the British Rule

The interior of the central dome

In 1873, Ganga Prashad, deputy collector of the district, noted the mosque to still have the chain for the suspension of a bell,[c] and a passage at the back for parikrama carried out by Hindus.[d][4] Around the same time, Carlleyle alleged local Muslims to have confessed to him about the extant inscriptions being forgeries and about how they had usurped total control of the site only around 1850.[30][e]

In 1878, local Hindus filed a plea in the Moradabad Civil Court asking for the site to be returned to them; they lost the case having failed to prove that the Muslims did not have continuous possession of the site during the previous twelve years.[34][35] In addition, the parikrama path did not go through the mosque and the witnesses for the Hindu side were noted to be of a "poor quality" who had never seen the inside of the mosque.[34]

In 1920, the mosque was brought under the purview of the Ancient Monuments Protection Act, 1904, and designated as a protected monument.[5]

Disputes in independent India

Further information: 2024 Sambhal Violence

On 1976, the maulana of the mosque was murdered giving rise to rumours that a Hindu man had committed the murder. The local administration record says that it was actually commited by a Muslim man but some rioting followed, leading to long curfews.[36][37]

On 19 November 2024, Vishnu Shankar Jain, known for his involvement in the Gyanvapi Dispute, filed a petition in the Chandausi Civil Court arguing that the mosque was built over a 'Shri Hari Har Temple' and asked for an immediate survey of the site.[35][38] The prayer was granted ex parte and the survey was completed by the evening.[35] Commentators and scholars note the litigation to be part of a broader Hindu nationalist assault on Indian Muslims.[39][40][41]

On 24 November, there was an attempt at a fresh survey which gave rise to apprehensions that the surveyors were excavating the mosque; stone-pelting and arson followed, resulting in four deaths, likely from retaliatory police firing.[35] A week later, the Supreme Court of India directed the Civil Court to pause all proceedings until the Allahabad High Court heard the Mosque Committee's challenge to the survey order; the Court ordered the survey report to not be unsealed and emphasised upon the responsibility of the government to maintain peace.[42][43]

Local Hindus claim that they have always held the mosque to be Harihar Mandir and that they used to offer prayers at a nearby well till a few decades ago; local Muslims do not oppose the Hindu claims but assert that such a temple existed in the mosque's vicinity in ancient times, and not at the site itself.[35]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The Hindu texts however provide little detail about the location of Śaṃbala, with the exception of Kalki Purana, which is of a recent vitage.[20] From at least the 11th century, the present day Sambhal became a place of pilgrimage with texts such as Tīrtha-pratyāmnāyāḥ mentioning it as a muktikṣetra, a place of salvation.[21]
  2. ^ The line quoted by Mukhliṣ is an oft-repeated refrain in the Kalki avatar section of Dasam Granth:
    Bhalu Bhaaga Bhayaa Eih Saanbhala Ke Hari Joo Hari Maandari Aavahige ॥
    It means that the town of Sambhal will be very fortunate because the Lord (Hari) will manifest Himself in (its) Hari temple.[24]
  3. ^ Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi, a historian of Mughal India, notes that early medieval mosques in India frequently had a provision for a chain to hang a lamp or lantern to provide light.[33]
  4. ^ This is a likely references to the rear chambers mentioned as a "peculiar feature" under #Architecture above.
  5. ^ Given Mukhliṣ' and others' description of the mosque, about a century before him, Carlleyle's informers seem unreliable.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Asher, Catherine (1992). "The beginnings of Mughal architecture". Architecture of Mughal India. The New Cambridge History of India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 28. ISBN 9781139055635.
  2. ^ a b Azam 2003, pp. 1409–1410.
  3. ^ a b c d e Crane, Howard (1987). "The Patronage of Ẓahīr al-Dīn Bābur and the Origins of Mughal Architecture". Bulletin of the Asia Institute. 1: 101–102. ISSN 0890-4464.
  4. ^ a b Prasad, Ganga (May 1873). "On Sambhal Inscriptions". Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal: 98–99.
  5. ^ a b "Survey of Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal completed". The Siasat Daily. 24 November 2024.
  6. ^ a b Sutton, Thomas (1954). The Daniells: Artists and Travellers. London: The Bodley Head. p. 45.
  7. ^ a b c d e Nath, Ram (1982). History of Mughal Architecture. Vol. 1. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications. pp. 103–104 – via archive.org.
  8. ^ Azam 2003, p. 1409.
  9. ^ Nevill 1911, p. 254.
  10. ^ a b Azam 2003, p. 1410.
  11. ^ Burton-Page, John (2007). Michell, George (ed.). Indian Islamic Architecture: Forms and Typologies, Sites and Monuments. Brill. p. 27. ISBN 978-90-04-16339-3.
  12. ^ Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy: 1952–53. Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. 1954. p. 98 – via archive.org.
  13. ^ Nevill 1911.
  14. ^ Nevill 1911, pp. 258–259.
  15. ^ The Ain-I Akbari by Abu'l-Fazl Allami, Vol. II, translated by Jarrett, H. S., Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1891, pp. 16, 281 – via archive.org
  16. ^ Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh written by Sujan Rai Bhandari (1695) in Sarkar 1901, p. 16
  17. ^ Chahar Gulshan written by Rai Chatar Man Kayath (1759) in Sarkar 1901, p. 123
  18. ^ Eltschinger, Vincent (2020). "On some Buddhist Uses of the kaliyuga". In Veronika Wieser; Vincent Eltschinger; Johann Heiss (eds.). Cultures of Eschatology: Empires and Scriptural Authorities in Medieval Christian, Islamic and Buddhist Communities. Vol. 1. De Gruyter. pp. 143–146. ISBN 978-3-11-059774-5. [From Mahabharata] A brahmin by the name of Kalki Viṣṇuyaśas will arise, prodded by Time, of great prowess, wisdom, and might. He will be born in the village of Sambhala, in a pious brahmin dwelling, and at his mere thought all vehicles, weapons, warriors, arms, and coats of mail will wait on him.
  19. ^ The Viṣṇu Purāṇa: Ancient Annals of the God with Lotus Eyes, translated by Taylor, McComas, ANU Press, 2021, p. 332, ISBN 9781760464417, When the religion of the Vedas and scriptural tradition are in decline and the Kali age nears its end, Lord Väsudeva—creator of the universe;... the Absolute in the form of the highest self—will manifest an aspect of himself in this world as Kalki in the home the head brahmin Viṣṇuyaśas, in a village called Śaṃbala.
  20. ^ Bernbaum 1985, p. 108.
  21. ^ Salomon, Richard (1979). "Tīrtha-pratyāmnāyāḥ: Ranking of Hindu Pilgrimage Sites in Classical Sanskrit Texts". Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft. 129 (1): 121–122. ISSN 0341-0137.
  22. ^ Alam, Muzaffar (2013), "Introduction to the Second Edition: Revisiting the Mughal Eighteenth Century", The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India: Awadh and Punjab, 1707-48 (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198077411.002.0008
  23. ^ a b Alam & Subrahmanyam 2007, p. 445.
  24. ^ Dasam Granth Sahib, page 1015, Search Gurbani, retrieved December 2024.
  25. ^ Alam & Subrahmanyam 2007, pp. 445–446.
  26. ^ Alam & Subrahmanyam 2007, p. 446.
  27. ^ Naqvi, Naveena (1 October 2020). "On the road: The novice munshi's view of inter-imperial North India". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 57 (4): 495. doi:10.1177/0019464620948416. ISSN 0019-4646.
  28. ^ Archer, Mildred (1969). British Drawings in the India Office Library, Vol. 2: Official and Professional Artists. London: Foreign and Commonwealth Office. p. 580, item 180 – via archive.org.
  29. ^ "Proceedings of the Fifty-Sixth Meeting of the Society", The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, XI (III): XLVI, May 1879 – via archive.org, Amongst the latter the most remarkable was the old city of Sambhal, where the musjid of Bāber was found to be an old Hindu temple altered and adapted to Muhammadan worship.
  30. ^ a b c A.C.L., Carlleyle (1879). Report of Tours in the Central Doab and Gorakhpur in 1874–75 and 1875–76. Calcutta: Archaeological Survey of India. pp. 25–26 – via archive.org.
  31. ^ Nath, Ram (1991). Architecture & Site of the Baburi Masjid of Ayodhya: A Historical Critique. Jaipur: Historical Research Documentation Programme. p. 20. ISBN 8185105146.
  32. ^ Nath, Ram (2008). "Mosques of Bābur's reign and their curious epigraphic data (1526-30 A.D.) (excluding the Ayodhya Mosque)". Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society. 56 (4) – via ProQuest.
  33. ^ Menon, Vandana (10 December 2024). "Sambhal: A history of violence". ThePrint.
  34. ^ a b "Story of the 500-year-old Sambhal mosque: Competing histories, mythology, and legal fights". The Indian Express. 29 November 2024.
  35. ^ a b c d e "How Sambhal row was born, post 1878 suit dismissal, post 1976 tension, when a priest met some familiar names". The Indian Express. 28 November 2024.
  36. ^ Vandana, Wasif Khan, Manisha Mondal, Sambhal: A history of violence, The Print, December 2024.
  37. ^ Yui, Miharu (2017). "Can Citizen Involvement Overcome Hate Crime in Local Communities?". Senri Ethnological Studies. 96: 184–185. doi:10.15021/00008679. ISSN 0387-6004.
  38. ^ "Uttar Pradesh: Court-Appointed Commissioner Surveys Mughal-Era Mosque Amid Claims of Ancient Hindu Temple". The Wire. 20 November 2024.
  39. ^ "Past Continuous, Present Tense". Economic and Political Weekly. LIX (49): 7–8. 7 December 2024.
  40. ^ "Express view: Tragedy in Sambhal". The Indian Express. 26 November 2024.
  41. ^ "Revanchist suits: The Hindu Editorial on the Shahi Jama Masjid". The Hindu. 1 December 2024.
  42. ^ Debby Jain; Anmol Kaur Bawa (29 November 2024). "Sambhal Masjid: Supreme Court Asks Trial Court To Defer Proceedings Till Survey Order Is Challenged In HC, Keep Commissioner Report Sealed". Live Law.
  43. ^ "Sambhal mosque survey: SC asks Shahi Jama Masjid management to approach Allahabad HC, tells trial court to halt proceedings". The Indian Express. 29 November 2024.

Bibliography

Media related to Shahi Jama Masjid, Sambhal at Wikimedia Commons

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