Khirki Fort, approached from the Khirki village in South Delhi and close to the Satpula or the seven arched bridge on the edge of southern wall of Jahapanah (the fourth city of MedievalDelhi), was a mosque built by Khan-i-Jahan Junan Shah, the Prime Minister of Feroz Shah Tughlaq (1351–1388) of the Tughlaq Dynasty.[1] The word 'Khirki' prefixed to masjid is an Urdu word that means "window" and hence is also called

The Masjid, which is in a quadrangular shape, was built as a fortress with an unusual fusion of Islamic and traditional Hindu architecture. It is said to be the only mosque in North India, which is mostly covered; the totally covered mosque of the Sultanate period is, however, in South India at Gulbarga in North Karnataka.[3]

History

Khan-i-Jahan Junaan Telangani and Feroz Shah Tughlaq were intensely committed towards building architectural monuments. Together, they planned and built several tombs and mosques. Telangani in particular, was credited with building seven mosques of unique designs. The inference drawn for his interest to build mosques was that he was impelled by the fact that he was a Hinduconvert who willed to prove himself true to his converted Islamic religion. The regal mosque built by him was the Khirki Masjid. Constructed in the Jahapanah city, it is a novel cross–axial mosque in Tughluqian architectural style built more like a fortress. There are no specific inscriptions on the Mosque on its construction date, though the name of the builder is inscribed on the eastern gate of the Mosque as 'Khan-e-Jahan Junaan Shah'. Therefore, in the absence of “epigraphic and literary” evidence (though one recent web reference mentions 1375 and another 1380) for its provenance, a research study has been provided by Welch and Howard in their paper titled "The Tughluqs: Master Builders of the Delhi Sultanate". The study has conjectured the year of building by comparing with many other large mosques of this period. It is dated between 1351 and 1354 when Feroz Shah Tughlaq, during his stay in Jahapanah, ordered this mosque to be built as "his pious inaugural contribution to the Capital".It is approached from the Khirki village in South Delhi and close to the Satpula or the seven arched bridge on the edge of southern wall of Jahapanah (the fourth city of Medieval Delhi), was a mosque built by Khan-i-Jahan Junan Shah, the Prime Minister of Feroz Shah Tughlaq (1351–1388) of the Tughlaq Dynasty.[1] The word 'Khirki' prefixed to masjid is an Urdu word that means "window" and hence is

The Mosque has a 52 m (170.6 ft)x52 m (170.6 ft) square plan in an area of 87 m2(936.5 sq ft). It is raised on a plinth of 3 m (9.8 ft). There are four open courtyards (square in size of 9.14 m (30.0 ft) on each side) encircled by arcades built with 180 square structural columns and 60 pilasters, which run in north–south direction and divides into aisles. The open courtyards are the source of light and ventilation to the internal prayer spaces. The roof is partitioned into 25 squares of equal size with 9 small domes in each square (totaling to 81 domes) and alternated by 12 flat roofs to cover the roof.