Welcome back to another episode of Incredible India. In the previous episode, I talked about one of the oldest forts in Delhi, the Feroz Shah Kotla Fort. Whereas in this episode we will get to know about one of the less popular places in Delhi, the Jamali Kamali: Mosque and Tomb.

Jamali Kamali: Mosque & Tomb

The Jamali-Kamali Mosque and Tomb are associated with Shaikh Fazullah (or Jalal Khan or Jamali), who was a popular saint and poet during the reign of Sikandar Lodhi and Humayun.

The tomb contains two graves, one of Jamali and the second one believed to be of Kamali whose identity is still unknown to us. ^[source]

^{View of Facade of the Mosque}

^{Flat roofed tomb}

How to reach

It is located in Mehrauli Archeological Park, Mehrauli, Delhi. Mehrauli is one of the oldest cities in Delhi. The famous minaret Qutub Minar is situated near this monument.

You can take a metro to the Qutub Minar station and you can reach the complex by a 15 min walk or alternatively, you can take a private auto-rickshaw or cab from there.

Architecture and Design

The Mosque and the tomb both were built in 1528-1529. It is one of the earlier pieces of Mughal architecture in India. The use of red sandstone with marble is quite evident and they were used during this period extensively in mosques and tombs.

The entrance of the mosque is from the southern side. Although now, the entrance is from the eastern side which is built later on.

^{5 arched facades of the Mosque}

There are 5 arched gates to the prayer hall. The central archway has another beautifully ornated outside arch with lotus buds cut from the red sandstone.

^{Central arch ornamented with lotus buds}

^{Window on the central arch gate}

There is a window in the central arch through which lamps could have been burned. This explains the blacking of the gate above the window.

One of the interesting things I noted is the subtle change in the flower design on the arched gateways. Here are the two slightly different designs. The left one was on the four side arch gates and the right one in the image is from the central gate.

^{Subtle change in floral design}

There were smaller windows that were used as lamp holders as far as I know. Let me know if you think they were only for aesthetic purposes. If you look closely you can see a slight change in design in all of them.

^{Slight change in design of Lamp holders}

Being a place of worship, you will find a lot of Islamic motifs engraved on the walls with red sandstones.

^{Islamic motifs used as ornamentation}

A huge courtyard is present in front of the prayer hall.

^{Courtyard outside the Mosque}

The Tomb

Jamali-Kamali Tomb is situtaed just north of the Mosque. The roof of the tomb is flat unlike many domed tomb from the same area. Two graves, one of Jamali and other believed to be of Kamali, whose identity is still unknown is placed there.

^{Jamali-Kamali tomb (graves placed inside)}

The tomb was once ornamented with blue tiles, still visible but mostly degraded now.

The tombs gates were closed when I reached there. So these were the only pictures I took standing by the closed gate. The mosque is much grandeaur than the Tomb.

Garden

The Mosque is placed in the center of a garden complex. Although the garden is not close to the asthetics we see in the gardens of Mughal era, it is still considered a garden with much space in the back of the mosque.

^{Southern wall of the courtyard}

^{Southern wall of the Mosque}

^{Back wall of the Mosque}

The Mosque is a two stories building and you can see the windows on the second storey in the back wall.

^{Window on the back wall of the Mosque}

This complext is within the Mehrauli Archeological Park which is one of the greeniest areas of Delhi.

Let me know what are your thoughts about the place. Would you like to visit this place when/if you come to Delhi? Constructive criticism is always appreciated. Thanks for reading. 🙂

Namaste 🙏

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