Begumpur Mosque
Delhi, India

The Begumpur Mosque is situated at the center of the sultanate capital of the Tughluq dynasty, Jahanpanah, now part of south Delhi. It was built during the reign of Muhammad Shah Tughluq (1325-1351) or his successor, Feroz Shah (reg. 1351-1388).

The mosque is congregational, with a corresponding generosity in size; it measures 307ft by 295ft. It was in its time an important social center of the capital, and included within its walls a madrasa and a treasury. It is a courtyard mosque of the Timurid type, with single-vaulted arcade wings on the northern, southern, and eastern wings surrounding a large courtyard. A deeper prayer hall closes the west, facing Mecca. The mosque is entered through a single gate on the eastern side, and the whole is built in an austere style of rubble masonry.

The mosque contains 64 domes, with one central one with a height of 9ft. The Begumpur Mosque is known as the first Indian example of the "Brhatmukhi" mosque type: at the center of the 24 arches on its main façade, an extremely large arch stands out, flanked by massive tapering pylon-minarets.

Sources:

Koch, Ebba. 1991. Mughal Architecture. Munich: Prestel, 65.

Nath, R. 1985. History of Mughal Architecture Vol. I. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 230, 233.

Asher, Catherine. 1992. The New Cambridge History of India: Architecture of Mughal India. Cambridge University Press:, 9.

Location

Delhi, India

Documents

Associated Names

Events

mid to late 14th c.

Style Periods

1526-1858

Variant Names

Begampari
Variant
Begampuri Masjid
Variant

Site Types

religious