Baba Lu'lu'i Masjid
Ahmedabad, India

The Mosque of Baba Lu'lu'i, or Baba Muhammad Ja'far, is located along the east bank of the Sabarmati River in the neighborhood of Behrampur, about a mile and a half south of the old walled city of Ahmedabad. It is dated to the last quarter of the sixteenth/tenth century AH or thereabouts based on its style, which resembles that of the Hasan Muhammad Chishti Mosque, constructed in 1565.

The mosque is a rectangular building, open on the east side and closed on the three other sides. The east side is completely open, with ten pillars supporting nine arches of varying lengths (the central arch being the widest). Flanking this arcade are two massive buttresses that rise to the height of the roof and are ornately carved with bands of vegetal motifs. 

The interior of the mosque is a large trabeated (pillared) prayer hall. A central dome carried on twelve pillars rises over a large octagonal bay in line with the central archway on the east facade, and the central mihrab on the qibla wall. This central dome is raised above the height of the roof. One aisle separates the central domed bay from the eastern arcade and the qibla wall. On either side of the domed bay are three aisles formed by two rows of pillars and a third row of engaged pillars on the side walls. These pillars dividing these aisles line up with those of the archways on the eastern facade. Three smaller domes cover the bays of the central aisle of these three side aisles on either side. The qibla wall has three mihrabs: one at the end of the central aisle and one at the end of each of the domed side aisles.

Sources:

Burgess, James. The Muhammadan Architecture of Ahmadabad. Part II, 45-47. Archaeological Survey of Western India, Vol. 8. London: W. Griggs and Sons, 1905.

Location

Ahmedabad, India

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Associated Names

Events

last quarter 16th c./last quarter 10th c. AH

Dimensions

69 x 37 ft (interior area)

Variant Names

Baba Lului Masjid
Alternate transliteration
Baba Lavlavi Masjid
Alternate transliteration

Site Types

religious