New Delhi: The Allahabad High Court on January 8 stayed proceedings till February 25 before a Sambhal trial court regarding the Shahi Jama Masjid. The Hindu side had filed a suit claiming the mosque was constructed on a temple. The HC stayed the proceedings before the trial court, which earlier ordered the mosque’s survey, on a plea filed by the Committee of Management of the masjid challenging the trial court order. The matter would be next heard on February 25 and as per reports, the HC has also sought the responses within four weeks from the Centre, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the Uttar Pradesh government, the District Magistrate concerned and the plaintiffs of the suit.
Shahi Jama Masjid: One of the oldest mosques in India
The Shahi Jama Masjid is one of the oldest mosques in India and also of South Asia. It is situated in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal and was established during the reign of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire in India. As per an inscription on the mosque, one of the generals of Babur constructed the mosque following the Mughal Emperor’s orders and it was completed in December 1526.
Its construction was finished seven months after Babur conquered Delhi following his victory in the Battle of Panipat. As per Catherine Asher and Ram Nath, scholars of Mughal architecture, it is doubtful that Babur himself was involved in its construction. According to Asher, the inscription possibly says that Babur permitted regional governors to construct mosques in their territories and the Shahi Jama Masjid was probably not an imperial mosque. On the other hand, Nath opines that the Shahi Jama Masjid was probably a revamped mosque from the Lodi era.
The mosque is located atop Sambhal’s highest hillock and the rectangular courtyard has a well and an ablution tank. The prayer chamber is also rectangular with a central bay in the shape of a square. A dome covers it, supported by stalactite pendentives. The central chamber has three-bayed double-aisled arcades on each side and low flat domes cover the side wings. It has two small rectangular chambers behind the central chamber’s qibla wall. Dispute regarding the mosque has existed since the British era, and it flared up after India gained Independence in 1947. In 1920, the mosque was brought under the purview of the Ancient Monuments Protection Act, 1904, and designated as a protected monument.
The Allahabad High Court has stayed proceedings in a Sambhal trial court concerning the Shahi Jama Masjid, a historic mosque in Uttar Pradesh. The suit, filed by a Hindu group claiming the mosque was built on a temple, prompted a trial court order for a survey. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
