Unearthed during the excavations that began in 1958 in the ancient city of Banbhore, the Jami' Masjid of Banbhore is one of the earliest known mosques in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. Its plan, deducted from archaeological remains, closely resembles the plans of congregational mosques in Kufa (670) and Wasit (702). Inscriptions found on the site date the mosque to 727.

Oriented roughly west to east, the mosque has a square plan measuring about thirty-seven meters on each side. Entrances are centered on the west and the north façades. The outer walls are more than a meter thick and are constructed of limestone blocks. Both entrances lead into colonnaded corridors that enclose three sides of a large brick paved courtyard. The fourth or the west side of the courtyard is occupied by the prayer hall. The roof of the prayer hall, which has not survived, was supported on thirty-three wooden pillars on stone bases, arranged in three rows. The absence of a mihrab on the western qibla wall further verifies that this mosque was built before mihrabs became a common element of mosque typologies.


Sources:

Bhambur: Asar-e Qadimah kay Inkishafat ki aik Ibtadae Report. Karachi: Mahkama-e Asar-e-Qadima va-Ajaib Ghar, Hukumat-e Pakistan, 1982.

Mumtaz, Kamil Khan. "Early Muslim." In Architecture in Pakistan, edited by Judith Shaw, 32-35. Singapore: Concept Media Pte Ltd, 1985. Available on ArchNet at: http://archnet.org/library/documents/one-document.jsp?document_id=3563.