INDIA, "OLD" DELHI: JAMA MASJID (MOSQUE)

 December 23, 2024

Just a note about the weather in Delhi. The temperatures were generally quite pleasant, with highs in the 60s and low 70s, but the air quality was horrific. These are screen shots from my phone from the evening of December 22 and the morning of December 23 showing an AQI of 428 and 420, respectively.

For context, the airnow.gov website has this enlightening chart: 

YIKES.  If you wondered why my photos all look a bit fuzzy, it's not my phone camera; it's the air. Delhi often has the worst air pollution of anywhere in the world.

We got picked up at our hotel after an early breakfast (which was fantastic, of course) for the day's adventures. On our way to our first destination, we passed the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of the Republic of India, who right now happens to be a woman. It's the building on the left below. Constructed from 1912-1929 during the period of British rule, it has 200,000 square feet and 340 rooms. The building on the right in the photo below looks like a stadium of some kind, but it was British Parliament House between 1927-1947, after which it housed the Indian Parliament until 2023. It is where the Constitution of India was created. It was recently replaced by a newer building.

Our first destination on this smoggy and also drizzly morning was in Old Delhi--the Jama Masjid ("Congregational Mosque"), one of the largest Sunni mosques in India and still actively used today.

After climbing a lot of stairs, we emtered through one of three gates. 

Our first view at the top of the stairs was of a large center courtyard that can hold up to 25,000 people, which it often does on major Muslim holidays such as Eid (end of Ramadan). We were fortunate to be there early in the morning before the crowds arrived.

The crowds in the courtyard during Eid. Photo from here.

I think this photo was taken looking back at the gate through which we had entered:

This is the Eastern gate, the main entrance for the complex.

And here is the beautiful mosque itself, built by a Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and his 5,000 laborers between 1644 and 1656.  He's the same guy responsible for the Taj Mahal. At the time the mosque was built, it was the largest mosque in India, and today it is still the second-largest mosque in India. It served as the royal mosque of the Mughal emperors until 1857. 

I can understand why this feels like a holy place to Muslims. It is stunning. A sign near the entrance notes that "MUSIC VIDEO SHOOT IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED INSIDE THE MOSQUE." I'm not sure if that means music and video shoots are prohitibed, or if just music videos are prohibited but other videos are okay. 

Like all mosques, there is a mihrab, which indicates the direction of Mecca and towards which Muslims face during prayer, as well as spaces marked off on the floor for individual persons during prayer time.

This chandelier in front of the mihrab was also very impressive. Nothing here is simple or plain.

The minbar (no, not "minibar") is a raised platform usually accessed by three stairs where the imam stands to deliver sermons, especially the most important sermon of the week on Friday. It is typically placed to the right of the mihrab, as it is here. Note the patterns on the wall that match the patterns in the marble floor that match the shapes of the door frames. Very unified design elements.

In addition, there are so many intricacies, from the carving of the sandstone ceiling to make it look like folded cloth to the repeated geometric patterns to the inland metal to the scalloped edges. It is incredible craftsmanship.

Standing in the center of the entryway looking one way and then the other, we found the view to be quite breathtaking.

Other than the blue slippers, we almost look like we belong. Well, maybe not.

In the center of the great courtyard is a water feature for ablutions (ritual cleansing).  Another important architectural feature is the two 130-foot-tall minarets on each side of the building.

One last look around:

By the time we left, people were beginning to arrive, evidenced by the pile of shoes at the entrance.

Our guide wanted us to get a different view of the Jama Mosque, so he took us across the street to the Gumbad Cafe, a tea shop where we could enjoy some Coke Zero and see the mosque from a different angle. Gumbad means "Dome" in Hindi.

There was a fun mural on one wall of the tea shop that shows the mosque in the background.

We had a very good view through the shop window of the three large domes and smaller dome, all made of marble. I can't even begin to imagine the engineering skills required to construct them.

Looking in another direction provided a totally different kind of a view.

This angle shows how the mosque sits far above the rest of the city--33 feet, to be exact. No wonder there are so many stairs.

This mosque has been the site of two relatively recent acts of terrorism. In 2006 two bombs went off in shopping bags left in the courtyard shortly after the Friday Prayer and injured 13 people, and in 2010 gunmen on motorcycles attacked a Taiwanese tourist bus parked outside the mosque and wounded two people.