It has side galleries running around a courtyard of 177 feet diameter.

These galleries are 5 aisle deep and two storey high. I had fun exploring it, trying to imagine what was.

There are entrances on each side with the north and south having domes.

The western side hsa the main prayer hall with the Mehrab and mimbar while the eastern side has a huge ornamental doorway through which I had entered. The north & south also have entrances.

As is the characteristic of Sharqi architecture sloping pylons is the main feature of the main prayer hall.

The pylon is 75 feet high and 55 feet wide at the base.

As I was to find in this common theme in my explorations in Jaunpur, within the pylon is the great recessed Arch, through which we enter the main prayer hall. It is 11 feet deep and has arcade window openings for illumination.

This hall is three storeyed with beautiful recessed arches.

The ground level us the mimbar surrounded by arches, the second level is 8 sided with arches out of which four form the squinch arches bridging across the angles, thus changing it into an octagon.

It is through screened openings within these arches that light is admitted to its upper part.

The upper level is 16 sided with brackets each containing an arch and forming the drum of the dome.

The dome which is 57 feet high inside, is made up of circular layer of brick courses and covered by cement outside to give the circular shape.

Rana Safvi

06 JANUARY 2019

A journey through the ruins of Phuti Masjid, built by Sarfaraz Khan, in Murshidabad

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/a-testimony-to-broken-dreams/article25921048.ece/amp/

A short-lived reign

But his problems did not stop there. The newly crowned Nawab fell out with his Wazir, Haji Ahmed. The Wazir won over the rich banker Jagat Seth Fateh Chand and Rai Rayan Chand and started plotting against the Nawab. Haji Ahmed invited Ali Vardi Khan, the Nawab Nazim of Bihar, to seek someone from the Mughal empire to replace Sarfaraz Khan. In the battle of Giria, Ali Vardi Khan defeated Sarfaraz Khan. The Musnad of Murshidabad, compiled by Purna Chandra Majumdar, mentions that the Jagat Seths suborned the Nawab’s men to place bricks and clods instead of cannon balls and fodder in Sarfaraz Khan’s magazine. Though the Nawab found out and gave charge of his artillery to a Portuguese, he was killed by a bullet as he rode out to battle on his elephant. Nawab Sarfaraz Khan ruled only for a year.

Inside Phuti Masjid

When I went to Murshidabad, I visited the grand mosques, palaces and imambaras constructed by the Nawabs who ruled for a longer time and in happier circumstances. But it was the Phuti Masjid that I found fascinating. 

The mosque is quite large: 135 ft. long and 38 ft. wide with four cupolas at the corners. Only two of its five planned domes were completed. Dangerous looking spiral staircases lead up to the cupolas. As the builder died soon after construction began, the mosque was never completed. And so the name Phuti Masjid, or broken mosque. It is also known rather morbidly as Fouti Masjid. ‘Fout’ means death, and the name was apparently given after the builder’s death.

As I approached the mosque, I first saw brick walls surrounded by small cottages and fields on a dusty road. The walls were covered with moss. I went eastward, which is the direction in which people generally enter mosques. But I found to my dismay that the entrance was at a height and there were no steps leading up to it. My guide was young and he quickly climbed up. With his help, I somehow managed to scramble up the mud incline. I am glad that I did, for I immediately saw a huge hall and soaring arches. There was a sense of desolation, mystery and a strange undercurrent of spirituality in the mosque. An extremely religious and devout Nawab with money, power and resources had wanted to build a house of worship, yet no one ever prayed there. It was more like a scene from a horror movie: there was a semi-open roof, wild undergrowth, and trees and the sun rays peeped in through apertures. Just then I heard shrill voices. Two children from a nearby cottage, aged four and five, had clambered up to ask if they could be my guides!

One legend goes that this mosque was built in one night by Sarfaraz Khan. Another says that a number of workers toiled for several months to construct it. During roll call one day, it was found that one worker was not present. This happened a number of times and as the story became famous, the mysterious workman disappeared leaving his work incomplete and no one could match his skill. Both stories point to the hand of Djinns. Whatever be the truth, this broken structure is still standing despite all the odds, surrounded by houses, fields and hostile elements, a mute testimony to broken dreams.