Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra
Topic: Turkic Invasions and the Delhi Sultanate · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra ("hut of two and a half days") is an early mosque at Ajmer in Rajasthan. Ajmer, once called Ajayameru, was the capital of the Chahamanas (Chauhans). Qutb-ud-din Aibak began the mosque c. 1199, soon after the Ghurid conquest. It stands on the site of an earlier Sanskrit college and temple, and it reuses their carved pillars. It is one of the first Indo-Islamic buildings in India.
Example
The prayer hall stands on old temple pillars. Later, Iltutmish added a tall screen of arches in front, decorated with calligraphy (beautiful writing) and patterns.
Don't confuse with
- Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque: also begun under Aibak and also built with temple material, but it is in Delhi, in the Qutub Minar complex. An inscription there says it used material from 27 destroyed Hindu and Jain temples.
Related concepts
- Delhi Sultanate
- Mamluk dynasty
- Iltutmish
- Turkan-i-Chahalgani
- Sultan Ghari
- Raziya Sultan
- Ghiyasuddin Balban
- Theory of kingship of Balban
- Sijda and paibos
- Sayyid dynasty