Kalan Mosque, Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh India

Kalan Mosque, also known as Kali Masjid refering to its dark colour, is located at Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh. Built by Khan-i-Jahan Junan Shah, the prime minister to Firuz Tughlaq, the mosque was designed and built like a citadel to protect worshippers from attacks. The entrance to the mosque is flanked by two tall towers. The structure stands on a 66 ft high tall plinth, which is accessed by a flight of 32 steps. Inside the building there are about 30 domed bays which form a cloiser. The walls of the mosque are 6 ft thick.

The Kalan Mosque was built by Khan-i Jahan Junan Shah (reg. 1368-1387), vizier at the court of Firoz Shah Tughluq (reg. 1351-1388), the last Tughluq sultan to rule in Delhi. Firoz Shah was a prolific builder and his patronage extended across the empire through various public works, religious and civic buildings, pleasure retreats and palaces. He is known to have constructed the first canal in north India. In Delhi, he laid the foundations of the city of Firozabad in 1354, although only the Firoz Shah Kotla (Citadel) survives today, and no clear record remains of the extents of the city or the remains of the city walls.

Firoz Shah Tughluq assigned viziers in his court extensive royal authority, through which they became wealthy and commanded great prestige. Khan-i Jahan Tilangani (reg. 1351-68), the father of Khan-i Jahan Junan Shah, served as first vizier to Firoz Shah’s court and was given the title ‘King of Delhi’ by the sultan himself. This kind of royal patronage continued with few exceptions up to the time of the Mughals in the sixteenth century. Khan-i Jahan Tilangani was succeeded by his son in 1351. The architectural patronage of Khan-i Jahan Junan Shah has been attributed differently by various scholars. Some scholars claim that he built two mosques and one tomb, while others mention three to seven mosques built within the city of Firozabad. Among those ascribed to Khan-i Jahan Junan Shah are the Khirki Mosque close to the wall of Jahanpanah, the Kalan Mosque in Nizamuddin, and the Kalan Mosque of Firozabad, now within Shahjahanabad, Old Delhi.

The Kalan Mosque in Firozabad was surrounded by low masonry structures up to 1814, and by 1840 a thriving village had sprung up in its vicinity. Today the Kalan Mosque lies embedded in the poorest quarter of the walled city of Shahjahanabad, with houses of three to four stories abutting its outer edges. The mosque is accessed through a narrow street off the Sita Ram Bazar Road. It is currently in use by the local community and is under the direct control of the Delhi Waqf board. It is mostly intact and well maintained. A notice board at the entrance of the mosque indicates the meaning of Kalan as ‘big’. The mosque is also popularly known as the ‘Kali Masjid’ after the color of the black stone used in its construction. However, the contemporary mosque was completely refinished with gray floor tiles, and it is plastered and painted shades of green, aquamarine blue and white. Not a single surface of the mosque appears black today.

The Kalan Mosque is a rectangular building measuring approximately 41 meters by 34 meters (135 feet by 112 feet) with its longitudinal axis oriented along the east-west direction. A two-storied structure rising to a total height of approximately 20 meters (66 feet), the mosque consists of a high plinth (8.53 meters, or 28 feet) containing a series of vaulted cells accessible along its periphery and the mosque itself on the level above. The building contains openings on both floors that punctuate the 1.65 meters (5.5 feet) thick outer walls. The outer walls are built of stone rubble masonry and battered to the top where they are lined by a merlon pattern in plaster relief painted dark green and white. The rectangular mosque building has conical towers at its corners and a square domed entrance gateway protruding out approximately 6.4 meters (21 feet) from the eastern side. The entrance gateway is accessed along a flight of 32 steps rising sharply from the east.

The mosque is divided into 9 by 7 structural bays of varying sizes. The plan can be divided into two halves along an approximately central north-south axis; the eastern half consists of 5 bays by 7 bays and the western half of 4 bays by 7 bays, the western bays being slightly larger in size than the eastern bays. The mosque is organized about a rectangular open courtyard, located in the eastern half of its plan, measuring approximately 15 meters by 20 meters (49 feet by 66 feet) and occupying 4 by 5 bays.

Firozabad Railway Station is nearby. Firozabad is situated 44 km from Agra and 200 km from Delhi.