Mecca Masjid : grand mosque of Hyderabad

     The Mecca Masjid is 100 yards south-west of the Charminar.The Mecca Masjid at Hyderabad is one of the largest mosques in the south of India; it can accommodate 10,000 worshippers at prayers. Named as Bait-ul Atiq by Sultan Mohammed Qutub Shah,construction began under him in 1614 with 8000 workers under the supervision of Daroga Mir Faizullah Baig and Choudhary Rangaih; however it was not completed until 1693 by Aurangzeb. It was constructed from huge granite boulders that were hewn locally. Small red bricks made from the earth brought from Mecca  are positioned above the central arch. The mosque came to be thence known as Mecca Masjid.

     

     The mosque is patterned on the Grand mosque at Mecca. The hall is 67 metres by 54 metres and 23 metres high. The roof is supported by five arches each on three sides. The mehrab is on the western side. 

     Jean Baptiste Tavernier, a merchant traveller to Hyderabad in the 17th century says that the stone for the prayer-niche  was hewn out of a quarry and several hundred pairs of bullocks took it to the construction site.  The mosque contains the tombs of the Nizams of the Asaf Jahi dynasty from 1803 onwards. 





Mecca Masjid , image from the 1890s.

By Lala Deen Dayal [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

           The main facade has  five arched entrances. The prayer hall contains five aisles, three bays deep. The circular corner minars, with octagonal balconies, are small in height; they were never carried above parapet level. The capping domes were added later by the Mughals.

By Sooraj (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons



By Aruna.bommana (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons



By KrishnaVikas (clickbyviks) (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons




By Shilpa Venkat (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons


By Habeeb MD [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons



References :

• Hyderabad 400 years/Raza Ali Khan,Hyderabad : Zenith Services,1990.
• wikipedia.org

Posted by :


Soma Ghosh


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