Prayer Hall

The main prayer hall is 22 meters high with pillars arranged in square format at the ground level and octagonal format at the first & second floors. Galleries on the upper floors are open and permit good amount of light from all directions.

Near the northern side of the Masjid there exists a huge ablution tank, Hauz-e-Vaju, octagonal in shape and has lateral & longitudinal steps that take you till its bottom.

When I visited the tank, it was full up to its brim, steps were not visible at all.

Mihrab

West side wall has seven buttresses & sixteen windows with Jali on the outer side and mihrab in the inside. Jami Masjid or the city level mosque has seven mihrab, mosque for royal personnel has five, like the Saher ki Masjid and 3 mihrab mosque for comman people, like the Kevda Masjid. This appears to be sort of a hierarchy.

One design element that I noticed most prominently in almost all the structures was the Flower, Foliage motif and the Pot design which probably was indicative of the confluence of Islamic architecture and Hindu craftsmanship.

Can some one read the Arabic text that I noticed on top side of one of the Mehrab? Do let us know what it says.

Corridor & Windows

Beautiful corridor line North, East & South side of the courtyard. Arcaded corridor with 52 pillars in the interior & 62 latticed windows on the exterior give a very ornamented & spacious look to the structure.

Latticed windows are on all outer walls including the rear side & Oriel windows are seen on the main entrance and south wall.

Jharokha windows are supported by four sculptured brackets and even the stones inside bracket space are ornamented with floral designs.

Jami Masjid

First place people visit and write about in Champaner is the grand Jami Masjid. Built in the year 1508-09 by Mehmud Begda it stands truly large and magnificent till date and is considered the most prominent structure of Champaner.

1. East Pavilion 2. South Pavilion 3. Special Pavilion

4. Corner Minaret 5. Buttresses 6. Domes 7. Minarets

8. Dargah 9. Courtyard 10. Corridor 11. South Pavilion

The biggest building in Champaner, it encloses an area of 72 Meters by 60 Meters with a huge courtyard, arcaded corridors with 52 pillars, 62 windows with Jali work on the outer walls and 3 entrance pavilions in the center of its east, north and south walls. 33 meter high minarets adorn each side of the main entrance and prayer hall and four minarets at the corners are half its height (one on the front-right side is in broken condition).

East pavilion is the most imposing and beautiful. Constructed on a high plinth it is decorated with geometric designs and jali work.

There appears to be a second, special entrance pavilion on the north side opening into a section in main prayer hall & separated from it by means of stone Jali – some say it was for the rulers and some consider it to be reserved for ladies.

Lets see the Courtyard, Minarets, the Prayer hall, Domes, Ablution Tank, Jharokhas, Mehrabs, and a lot more ... in my next few posts !

Chor Kothari

Chor Kothari or the prison cell inside royal palace area surprised me. Why should one keep prisoners inside the royal area? Or was it meant for royal prisoners only? However, I tried to look inside this damp and bat stinking structure, it was too dark and ill smelling to even try.

Close to this structure on its south is Sahar Ki Masjid or the City Mosque and on the north some garden structure remains.