Atala Masjid, Jaunpur - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Atala Masjid or Atala Mosque is a 15th-century mosque in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh

Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh

Jaunpur is a city and a municipal board in Jaunpur district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.Jaunpur district is located to the northwest of the district of Varanasi in the eastern part of the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. According to the 2001 census, Jaunpur district had a population...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. It is one of the chief tourist attractions in Jaunpur. The mosque bears the evidences of the times in which it was built. The Atala Masjid is a useful specimen of mosques, not only in Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

but also in India.

Location

2.2 km north-northeast of Jaunpur

Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh

, 7.3 km northwest of Zafarābād

Zafarabad

Zafarabad is a place in Jaunpur district of Varanasi Division of Uttar Pradesh.Zafarabad is an important railway junction station under Allahabad division of Northern Railway zone of Indian Railways....

, 16.8 km north-northeast of Mariāhū

Mariahu

Mariahu is a town and a nagar panchayat in Jaunpur district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.-Geography:Mariahu is located at . It has an average elevation of 87 metres .-Demographics:...

, 26.3 km west-northwest of Kirākat

Kerakat

Paruganj is a town and a nagar panchayat in Jaunpur district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.T'-Demographics: India census, SADAB KHAN is the king of kerakat.Kerakat had a population of 12,472. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%...

Transport links

Located 3 kilometers from the railway junction at Bhandari
Bhandari
For other uses, see Bhandari .Bhandari caste is among the sea-faring warrior castes of ancient and medieval India. They migrated southward from Rajputana in early 1100 and subsequently spread over different parts of India...

,
by availing the bus or train services from Varanasi
Varanasi
-Etymology:The name Varanasi has its origin possibly from the names of the two rivers Varuna and Assi, for the old city lies in the north shores of the Ganga bounded by its two tributaries, the Varuna and the Asi, with the Ganges being to its south...

(Benaras), which is separated from Jaunpur by a distance of 56 kilometers.
Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....

and Mirzapur
Mirzapur
Mirzapur is a city in the heart of North India, nearly 650 km between Delhi and Kolkata and also equidistant from Allahabad and Varanasi. Located in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Mirzapur has a population of a little over 205,264 and is renowned for its famous carpet and brassware industry...

are the other two cities located at a distance of 214 kilometers and 69 kilometers respectively.

Construction

The Jaunpur Atala Masjid was built by Sultan Ibrahim (1401–1440), Sharqi Sultan of Jaunpur on foundations laid during the reign of Tughluq Sultan Firuz Shah III (1351–1388). Though the emergence of this mosque dates back to 1377, the construction work was completed in 1408.

Architecture

The chief feature of Atala Masjid is that in spite of being a mosque and that too, built by the Muslims rulers, the Masjid shows a lot of influences of Hindu architecture. In fact, there is a clear resemblance of Hindu style of architecture, in the entire Masjid. The reason for such similarity is due to the fact that the Atala Masjid is situated on the site of a temple of Atala Devi. Hence the Atala Masjid, Jaunpur also gets its name from this Hindu Temple.

On the other hand, the Begampur Masjid in Delhi

Delhi

Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

is also believed to have influenced the construction a great deal. The presence of niches, inclined walls, the form and structure of beams and pillars, resembles the mosques, tombs and other buildings that were built by Sultan Muhammad Shah Tughlaq

Muhammad bin Tughluq

Muhammad bin Tughluq was the Turkic Sultan of Delhi from 1325 to 1351. He was the eldest son of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq.He was born in Kotla Tolay Khan in Multan. His wife was daughter of the raja of Dipalpur...

and Firoz Shah Tughlaq of the Tughlaq Dynasty

Tughlaq dynasty

The Tughlaq dynasty of north India started in 1321 in Delhi when Ghazi Malik assumed the throne under the title of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq. The Tughluqs were a Muslim family of Turkic origin...

of the Delhi Sultanate

Delhi Sultanate

The Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived, Delhi based kingdoms or sultanates, of Turkic origin in medieval India. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty...

.

The central portico of Atala Masjid in Jaunpur, India has a stately arch. Inside, there is a massive hall, which is the main prayer room. The three domes of the Atala Masjid differ in size. The 'mihrab

Mihrab

A mihrab is semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla; that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying...

' (the niche in the wall of the mosque, which indicates the direction of Mecca

Mecca

Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...

), the decorations of the prayer room as well as the two-tiered corridors are the other features of Jaunpur Atala Masjid, which are noteworthy.

Some distinct features of the mosque are:

Square-shaped mosque with robust appearance,
Use of great rectangular pylons in the center of liwan
Liwan
Liwan is a word used since ancient times into the present to refer to a long narrow-fronted hall or vaulted portal found in Levantine homes that is often open to the outside...

, influence of circular tapering turrets of Tughlaqs resolved into rectangular shape,
Hindu influence is present in bracketed openings,
Huge arch springing between two pylons,
On the either side of Maqsura pylon are two identical mini – pylons and three separate gateways are also installed in northern, eastern and southern liwan

Current use

The Mosque is on the List of Monuments/Sites of Archaeological Survey of India of Directorate of Archaeology, (U.P.) and on list List of Monuments of Archaeological Survey of India

Archaeological Survey of India

The Archaeological Survey of India is a department of the Government of India, attached to the Ministry of Culture . The ASI is responsible for archaeological studies and the preservation of archaeological heritage of the country in accordance with the various acts of the Indian Parliament...

.

The Mosque is open for its devotees from 7:30 in the morning till 8:00 at night. Besides, special prayers are held every Friday.

A Madarsa named Madarsa Din Dunia is also housed in central courtyard of the mosque.

In literature

William Hodges

William Hodges RA was an English painter. He was a member of James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific Ocean, and is best known for the sketches and paintings of locations he visited on that voyage, including Table Bay, Tahiti, Easter Island, and the Antarctic.Hodges was born in London. He was a...

in his book Select Views in India mentions this mosque.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.