About Muslim Architecture in Gujarat

The State of Gujarat flourished with Islamic architecture for about 250 years during 14th century. The Indo Islamic architecture was introduced to Gujarat when Delhi’s Khalji Sultans appointed Governors who established themselves on western seaside towns. Thus, this Islamic architecture rooted well till the time Ahmad Shahi dynasty began to decline and slowly the country entered into the Mughal Empire at the end of 16th century. Gujarat carries few of the Indo-Islamic architecture of that era like the mosque situated at mausoleum of Shah Alam, Sarangpur Rauza, Isanpur Rauza, Queen’s Mosque or the Rani Rupavati Rauza, Paldi Mochrab Masjid, Mausoleum of Shah Alam, Step-well or Bai hari’s wav, Mosque of Sarkar Khan, Triple Gateway or Tin Darwaza, Tomb of Darya Khan, Hailal Khan Qazi’s Mosque, Jami Masjid and Tomb of Shikh Farid.

The growth and development of Gujarat’s Muslim architecture can be categorized into 3 periods. The initial or first period that was referred as first customary demolition phase and then reconversion happened during early period of 14th century. The second period was known to be Ahmed Shah’s period during early half of 15th century. During this period, the architecture was attaining its early consummation and hence described to be the perfect architectural achievement period. The last and final period was Begarha Period that occurred during last part of 15th century and extended till 16th century.

During the early phase of Muslim architecture which happened during 1300 to 1411, Muslim Governors belonging to Khalji dynasty built their tombs and mosques on Jain and Hindu shrines. Gradually, they developed their own building. Broach’s Jami Masjid which is a seaport town in Gujarat is the best example for their architectural development. This is a perfectly planned mosque carrying a courtyard with gates on 3 directions. There are 2 types of doorway to mosques. In one type, they have an open row of pillars where interior pillows were exposed, in another type, the entire facade is covered by arches.

In 1333 AD, Hilal Khan Qazi Masjid at Dholka delivered a novel style to the existing Islamic architecture. This style was considerably smaller and much simpler in their structure. They built their facade in a form of tall ornamental turret pair, each one present on the central archway. Later, this design of minaret became an integral part of Mosque in Gujarat. Tanka or Tak Masjid was built during 1361 in the style of open variety. There were about 100 pillars at this sanctuary which is known to be the last in construction during 14th century which was further developed during Ahmed Shah’s period.

The second phase known as Ahmed Shah’s period faced tremendous growth in Islamic architecture. He found Ahmedabad and named it after him. Mosques and tombs were constructed on several cities on a large scale. The buildings with an open doorway to arcaded screen type which can be seen through arcades are a perfect illustration of this new type of architecture.
The last and sumptuous form of architecture occurred during Mahmudul Begarha period. During this period, he found 3 novel cities with novel buildings, magnificent and gigantic architectural monuments in which most of them consist of a combination of mosque and tomb.

Thus, the Muslim architecture in Gujarat state emerged to be an individual identity which is known to be the richest architecture compiled with regional variations of the state.