Many of you may know that Jama Masjid is largest mosque of India (which is controversial and you will few details below) and situated in hustle bustle of Old Delhi. You may have seen those large Eid gathering photographs of Jama Masjid and those delicious street food shops of Chandi-Chowk or Chawri Bazar but may not really know some of the lesser known facts about this mosque which is very important for religious standpoint as well as heritage & architecture. On internet, there are also claims that Jama Masjid in Delhi is largest mosque in India, and at some places the largest mosque in India is Taj-ul-Masjid in Bhopal.
Above photograph shows a muslim lady offering prayers inside the main mosque. There are 3 huge gates for entering into Jama Masjid campus and main Mosque in on fourth side of this rectangular campus. The courtyard, at Old Delhi Jama Masjid, can accommodate more than 25 thousand people, although during this time of social distancing due to COVID-19 the capacity may be 1000 people at a time which also sounds huge & scary in current times :) . On the floor, there are 899 black borders marked for worshippers, although social distancing may recommend to use 1/10th of these slots at any point of time.
You may want to check out the video below which shows aerial view of Jama Masjid & it's surroundings. Old Delhi is one of the most dense area in India.
Coming back to which is largest mosque in India - Wikipedia mentions Jama Masjid in Delhi as largest mosque in India.
You may want to check out the video below which shows aerial view of Jama Masjid & it's surroundings. Old Delhi is one of the most dense area in India.
Coming back to which is largest mosque in India - Wikipedia mentions Jama Masjid in Delhi as largest mosque in India.
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There are multiple mosques in Old Delhi but Jama Masjid is most popular for obvious reasons. Some of the other popular mosques in Old Delhi are - Fatehpuri Masjid & Shahi Sunehari Masjid. The Jama Masjid in Old Delhi is also known as 'Masjid e Jahan Numa' and It's built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan during 1650s. Supposedly the mosque was inaugurated by Imam Syed Abdul Ghafoor Shah Bukhari from Bukhara, which is currently a part of Uzbekistan.
In very first photograph of Jama Masjid, you can see hundreds of pigeons flying around the mosque and you would be surprised to know that some of them are pets and take care by families of Old Delhi. In fact, there are interesting social games which you can check here.
In very first photograph of Jama Masjid, you can see hundreds of pigeons flying around the mosque and you would be surprised to know that some of them are pets and take care by families of Old Delhi. In fact, there are interesting social games which you can check here.
The high towers you see in first photograph of Jama Masjid, one can climb upto one of them to enjoy aerial views of Old Delhi. These two towers are 40 metres high which have strips of red sandstone and white marble. Red Fort is also visible from the top of Jama Masjid Tower. The 'Jama Masjid' mosque and Red Fort were planned to be a larger planned city named Shahjahanbad. One needs to buy a ticket to go to the top of the tower to see Red Fort from Jama Masjid along with other surrounding areas. Above photograph is clicked at the top as one needs to look through this net. Similar net is installed at various places inside Jama Masjid.
Above photograph is clicked while we were walking away from Jama Masjid towards Chandani Chowk metro station. Let's talk about how to reach Jama Masjid from different parts of Delhi. Metro is best way to reach here and there is big no from my side to think about driving here. You can drive to Cannought Place, park your car and take metro ride from Rajiv Chowk metro station to Chawri Bazar metro station. After taking an exit from Chawri Bazar metro station, either you can walk to Jama Masjid or take a cycle-rickshaw. Most likely walk and rickshaw ride will take same time, so it's only a choice about putting some physical effort or taking a comparatively comfortable ride on cycle-rickshaw.
I have visited Jama Masjid during my early years of photography, when I was formally learning it from my gurus Amitabha Bhattacharya & Sundeep Bali. Amitabha sir took us to Jama Masjid for first time for photography field-trip. Above photograph is my favourite photograph from that visit & has been very popular photograph. It was one of the photographs I exhibited in group exhibition 'Faithfully Yours'.
As a photographer I love the architecture of this mosque in Old Delhi. The Jama Masjid is considered as the best among all mosques built during the Mughal Empire as it has the good mixture of marble and limestone. Without going into specifics of each part of the mosque, I can say that this place offer plenty of opportunities to click some great photographs - architecture, people, faith, landscapes etc.
While we are talking about Jama Masjid, it may make sense to know about other interesting things to do in this part of the Old Delhi. So here are some relevant blogposts, you may want to check out -
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