Haybat Khan's Masjid is among the oldest mosques in Ahmedabad. It is situated on the southern end of the old walled city near the Jamalpur Gate, possibly on the site of a Hindu Temple from which building materials were re-used.1 It's namesake is Haybat Khan, a member of the family of the Sultans of Gujarat. The mosque lacks inscriptions but can be dated to the second decade of the fifteenth/ninth century AH and the foundation period of Islamic Ahmedabad.
The mosque is a rectangular building with three large arched entrances on its east side and five monumental buttresses on its western (qibla) wall. The interior of the mosque is a large prayer hall. Domes resting on twelve pillars aligned with the three entrances cover square bays that divide the space. The central bay is elevated higher than the two side bays. Two aisles occupy the space between the domed bays, and between the bays and the qibla, front, and side walls is one aisle. Decorative vaults cover the bays of these aisles. Windows made of carved stone screens (jali) allow light through the qibla wall and side walls.
A canopy style tomb is situated on the grounds to the northeast of the mosque.
Notes:
- The diversity of carving styles on the pillars used to support the mosque's vaults demonstrates that pillars were harvested from a number of local buildings.
Sources:
Burgess, James. The Muhammadan Architecture of Ahmadabad. Part I - A.D. 1412 to 1520, 20-21. Archaeological Survey of Western India, Vol. 7. London: William Griggs & Sons, 1900.
