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Afsarwala's Tomb (left) and Mosque (right) |
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Humayun's Tomb - Afsarwala's Tomb and Mosque
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Afsarwala's Tomb (left) and Mosque (right) |
The mosque sits on a raised platform about 91 metres to the southwest of the west gate of Humayun's Tomb. The date of construction of this mosque is not known, although archaeological evidence places it between 1560 and 1567.
The building is of local quartzite with red sandstone dressing. It consists of a single, rather dilapidated, prayer-chamber divided into three bays, the central bay roofed by a dome carried on squinches. The inside of the central dome contains a painted circular panel. The central bay opens through a four-centred arch and is larger and higher than the flanking bays, which are also entered through four centred arches. The design conforms essentially to the 'triple iwan' of Persia.
The outer angles of the parapet are furnished with pinnacles, and the shouldered dome rises from a circular drum. S.A.A.Naqvi writing in 1947 mentions unidentified graves in the courtyard of the mosque, but these must have been done away with and are no longer to be seen.
On the same platform as the Afsarwala Mosque is an unidentified tomb that is locally known as Afsarwala Tomb. On one of the marble graves are inscribed quotations from the Quran and the number 974, which probably refers to the date in the Hijra era corresponding to AD 1566-67. The tomb dates to 1566-67 or a few years earlier.
Afsarwala Tomb is built with local grey quartzite with main lines of red sandstone and marble inlay. It consists of a single compartment, cruciform in plan internally, which is covered with a double dome. Externally the tomb is octagonal on plan: the sides of the octagon contain deeply recessed arches with square-headed doorways opening into the tomb-chamber in the four cardinal directions. The spandrels of the arches are decorated with round bosses of red sandstone. The outer dome rises from a high octagonal drum and is crowned by an inverted lotus finial-base bearing a red sandstone finial.
Both the mosque and the tomb are in honour of an afsar, however the identity of the afsar or officer who raised the buildings is not known. The Afsarwala Tomb has a grave with the date 974 marked on it, that corresponds to 1566-67, and according to archaeologists both the tomb and the mosque were built around this time.
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