مقدمہ

Human and Heritage: An Archaeological Spectrum of Asiatic Countries, 2019

The West’s fascination with the exotic Orient in the 19th century was manifested in many different ways, from works of fine art to large-scale displays at colonial expositions. In the Western gaze the East was associated with the past, the mysterious and the dark unknown, and conversely for many in the “Orient” Europe became synonymous with modernisation and advancement. The trend resulted in the commissioning of European style buildings in non- Western countries, implicit to the prevailing Eurocentric idea of modernity. In India the Indo- Saracenic style was popular with the British government and most of their architects used a blend of Indian styles, specifically “Mussulman forms” (Davies 1985: 196). Many of the Indian elite however, particularly the rajas of Princely states, patronised extravagant structures that were often designed by prominent European architects to either imitate existing European buildings or to create something new in the styles that were popular in contemporary Western architecture. This essay focuses on one such figure: Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala (r. 1877-1949) whose architectural legacy is a testament to his obsession with France and its culture. As the head of an Indian Princely state that was under the rule of the British crown, the Maharaja was an important member of the colonised elite, and one of many to consider Europe as the pinnacle of modernity and progress. The architectural structures that he patronised reveal his artistic preferences, and the mosque that he commissioned in 1926 particularly stands out for its distinctive style. Previous scholarship on this mosque, though limited, has always cited the Koutoubia Mosque in Morocco as the main inspiration (Sharma 2012: 284). However, in this paper I argue that the Jama Masjid of Kapurthala has closer ties to the Mosquée of Paris than the “true” Maghribi architecture of North Africa. The Maharaja travelled extensively and this exposure played an immense role in shaping his intellect. It would therefore not suffice to attribute this mosque to a mere imitation of one or two structures that he came across in Morocco. His motives were far more complex, and must be considered in the context of not only his life but also the political climate and aesthetic trends in vogue at the time.

East and West, 2022

E. Shavarebi & I. Strauch, "The Mosque of the Forgotten City: The Bilingual Inscription of Zalamkot Revisited", East and West 62 (n.s. 3/2), 2022, pp. 195-210. Abstract: The present article deals with a bilingual Persian-Sanskrit inscription reportedly found at Zalamkot (Lower Swat Valley, north-western Pakistan), which appears to be the oldest known dated monumental inscription in the New Persian language. Based on a new reading and interpretation of the Persian text, it is argued that the inscription belongs to one of the oldest mosques build by the Ghaznavids in the Indian Subcontinent. The inscription dates the completion of the mosque to 401 AH (1011 CE), i.e., ten years after the first Indian campaign of Sulṭan Mahmud of Ghazna. The inscription contains a hitherto unknown Indian toponym, reconstructed as *Jayapālanagara, where the mosque was located, and gives a date in the Sanskrit text using an otherwise unknown era.

Archives of Asian Art, 2009

The Bodhesar mosque located at Bodhesar village is a unique religious building of its kind in the entire Nagar Parkar area. It is a masjid (place of offering prayers by Muslims) but its architecture is based upon Hindu model, particularly the nearby Jain temples, built a century earlier than this mosque. Curiously, the masjid is there, but there is nobody in the entire neighbourhood to offer prayers. Even more curiously, some local Hindu families use it for the worship of their own deities. In the present paper an attempt is made to correct some earlier reports regarding this monument and to study its architecture and decorative features.

Pratna Samiksha, 2024

The responsibility of the facts stated, opinions expressed and conclusions reached are entirely those of the author of the respective article. Centre for Archaeological Studies & Training, Eastern India does not accept any responsibility for them.

Pratna Samiksha, New Series 4, 2013. © Centre for Archaeological Studies & Training, Eastern India, Kolkata, pp. 139-49., 2013

The Jami mosque built during the time of Sultan Nasiruddin Nusrat Shah (r. ah 925-38/ad 1519-1531/32) at Bajua-Santoshpur (Hooghly, West Bengal) has a distinctive style of which no other example is extant in the area south of Murshidabad district (West Bengal). It is a single-domed square room structure with a three-domed verandah on the east. The dated mosques of this type range between ad 1460 and 1610, and this is the solitary example during the whole Sultanate period where a mosque of this type has been termed ‘Jami’ in the inscriptions. Though both the inscriptions of ah 938/ad 1531-1532 had been noticed by A. K. Bhattacharya as early as in 1950, the architectural details and terracotta embellishments of the mosque have not yet been properly studied, which the present article purports to do.

Andrew C.S. Peacock and Richard Piran McClary (Volume Editors), Turkish History and Culture in India Identity, Art and Transregional Connections, Brill's Indological Library, Volume: 53, 2020

(PhD thesis). Ben-Gurion University of the Negev: Department of Bible, Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies- Archaeology, 2020

Chronology and Typology of Mosques in Jund al-Urdun and Jund Falastin(638- 1917) (Ph.D. thesis). Ben-Gurion University of the Negev: Department of Bible, Archaeology, and Ancient Near Eastern Studies- Archaeology (2020) Supervised by: Prof. Nimrod Hurvitz Dr. Yuval Yekutieli عمران وعمارة المساجد في جندي الأردن وفلسطين (638- 1917), دراسة اثرية ( أطروحة دكتوراه). جامعة بن غريون في النقب: قسم الدراسات التوراتية والاثار(2020) This research deals with The Mosque -- the most important building of Islamic religious and social life -- in the geographical region of Jund al-Urdun and Jund Falastin. The study of the structures and histories of mosques enables the research of a variety of topics pertinent to the life of Islamic society. The current study examines the main features, the diverse functions, and the various meanings of mosques in the research area, the Early Islamic (7th to 11th centuries) and the Late Islamic periods (12th to 20th centuries). Furthermore, this study investigates the typological characteristics of the building to understand its development and shape, while relating to the functional, social, economic, and political life of the residents in the region along the Islamic period and its specific phases.

Tughlaq dynasty can be chiefly characterized by more territorial expansion and appointments of Indians as ruling class. Due to rapid expansion of Delhi Sultanate and involvement of Indians in administration, Indo-Islamic architecture got an opportunity to flourish in a major region and developed a more indigenous style. Mongols occupation in the most of the region resulted into a political disconnection of Delhi sultanate with Persia. However many artisans fled from Persi to India which evolved more Indo-Persian version of architecture in this period. In comparison to their predecessor Tughlaqs were prolific, creative and energetic as they formalized building methods and materials and involved the architects in the construction. Among three great builders of Tughlaq dynasty, Firoz Shah had a great passion for mosques and other buildings as he said, " Among the gifts that Allah bestowed upon me, His humble servant was a desire to erect public buildings. I built many mosques, colleges and monasteries so that the learned and the elders, the devout and the Holy, might worship Allah in these edifices and aid the kind builder with their prayers. " In this paper the author has examined the architecture of five mosques built in Delhi under the reign of Firoz Shah, which render him a great patron of the mosques.