Champaner Series | Iteri Masjid | Part 3

After exploring the Shaher ki masjid(Click here to read), I enquired with the the security guy as to where the other mosques are. He advised me to check out other mosques like Kevada Masjid and Nagina Masjid first and in the end finish my exploration with Jami Masjid. In fact most of the tourist who come here generally go to  Jami Masjid first. 

As advised by the security guy I ventured to explore Kevada Masjid, Taking the directions from him I set out , little walk and on my left I saw this gate of custom house.

Custom House

 I think it housed Govt office so I didn't go inside to check out. Again a little walk into the village Yes! within the walls of Champaner you find these small village houses, reaching at a T section I turned left with the boundary walls of the heritage site quite visible on the right side.

Boundary walls on the right side quite visible

Its here I got little confused when a villager told me to turn around and take the route exactly opposite to where I was walking. I said but the sign board say its on this side. He mocked at me and said "Arre Is raste se jungle me kahan batak te rahoge", for a minute I was in two mind and turned back but I dont know what came over me and I started to follow my original instinct to walk through the thick vegetation route.(The thing he called jungle 😜 )

Exit to thick vegetation route

Actually only Shaher ki Masjid is within the fortified walls of the complex, rest of all the Masjids are scattered outside this complex hence I moved out of the complex from the exit door and began my solo walk.
Hey neele gagan ke tale, jungle ki aur chale 

Exit Door

 With only the sound of birds and not a soul to be around you, the feeling could be very eerie. 

Bole tho darr bhi lagta hai aur majja bhi aata hai

Dhadakta dil ek hi baat bol raha tha woh Sholay wala dialogue                                    "Bhai Itna sanaata kyo hai"

Itna Sanaata kyo hai bhai

Sunsan raste per chalte hue ek minute ke liye yeah khayal bhi aaya ki, yahan akele me koi loot kar legaya toh... 

well actually these are honestly the vagaries of a Solo backpacker, walking little more deeper into this lonely track I saw this board of Brick Masjid alias Iteri Masjid . "Arre but no one told me anything about this Mosque".

Sign board of Iteri Majid and Amir Manzil

I took the left turn from the signboard and walked further, Just because I had seen the sign board so I was feeling confident that I'll find the place otherwise the track was too lonely and dense for my comfort. In fact at one moment my heart came in my mouth when I saw moment in the bushes and next moment PLOP! out jumps the peacock and run over towards the bushes on other side. Sigh !

The path was getting more dense

Just when I was losing all hopes I see this hopelessly standing Masjid of bricks in front of me.

Iteri Masjid

But before I could jump with happiness at my find, I saw few of these Buffalos grazing and seeing an intruder like me with swinging camera and walking towards them must have startled them, Perhaps that is the reason  they gave me fierce and fiery looks which almost stopped me in my tracks. 

Aa Dekhe Zara moment

Sach pucho toh yeh "Aa Dekhe Zara kisme kitna hai dum" moment tha. Half shivering I bravely stood my ground and took the picture of Brick masjid from a distance. "Ab yeh pata nahi tha ki woh kali bhains mere se utna hi darr rahi thi jitna mai usse."

Mere angane me tumhara kya kaam

I took few pictures and started to walk further in search of Amir Mahal, but after walking for 10 minutes I came to a dead end hence I retraced my steps till I was again at the Brick Masjid.( Sadly I didn't find Amir Mahal) 

View of Iteri Masjid

Luckily this time those dangerous looking baffalos had moved out. Garnering some courage I candidly moved near this Mosque to have closer look.

Closer looks of the Iteri Masjid

I climbed on the broken wall to reach the mosque platform to entered the Mosque. As the wall was narrow hence I had be be careful and worst the bricks were unevenly place. Ek khayal aaya tha tab, ki agar gir gaya toh koi utane hi nahi aayega aur phir ghabrat me woh kali bhains bhi yad aayegi

Narrow broken wall from where I climbed 

Upon reaching the top of platform I realised that there is not much to be seen. So the next best thing that I could think of was to shoot this Mosque from different angle. 

Angle Play

The plaster of this mosque has come off, exposing the bricks , probably that is the reason for the name Brick Masjid.

 Though on the minarets of the centre entrance few dilapidated carvings could be seen.

There was hardly anything behind the structure except for few ruined walls of the rooms and some overgrown grass.

Ruins behind the Mosque Facade

I wanted to explore little deeper but got worried that some snake may pop out from the grass to greet me Good morning 😅😅😅😅 

Socha aaj ke liye Bhains aur peacock ka fright kafi tha....


This mosque is in total neglected state, No ASI sign, no gate, no caretaker.

Dilapidated Walls of masjid

Probably it may not be so significant structure of its times. But who cares!

Hum toh woh hai , jin ko Dewaar toh chodo, Giri Dewaaro se bhi pyar hai, Hence enjoyed the moment and moved on.

Thank you for reading the blog hope you enjoyed the journey and be prepared to read about another beautiful Mosque i.e Kevada Masjid in my next blog, till then stay tuned.

TRAVEL TIP:1.Please carry your food and water.
                      2.Cap and Sunglasses could be quite handy.

Champaner Series | Shaher ki Masjid | Part 2

After the topsy turvy ride from Vadodara station to Champaner I was all set to explore the treasures of the past.(To know about the Champaner and my interesting journey click on this link Champaner Series- The journey-part 1

Entry Gate

It was 8 am when I reached the gates of Champaner world heritage site. My joys were dampen when I saw huge crowd of people at the gate, blowing those crazy horns, donning goggles and taking selfies,for a second I thought coming in navaratris was a bad idea specially with Pavagadh Kalkaji temple just opposite this site.

Lekin ab aaye hu toh dekh kar toh pakka jaunga

The gate through which  I entered the site is known as South Bhadra Gate. 

Plaque outside the Entry Gate

Passage

I walked through a passage with a big partition wall and then came across a huge second gate.

Huge second gate

When I entered this gate I saw the fortification wall on the left.

Fortification wall

 Actually this fortification wall runs around this Champaner site and the two mosques Shaher ki Masjid and Jami Masjid lies within this complex.The other three mosques i.e Brick Masjid , Kevada Masjid and Nagina Masjid on the outer side of the fortification wall.

One can see the Fortification wall in the picture

Moving towards the right side I come across a beautiful mosque Saher ki Masjid. Just outside the mosque there is this small ticket office where I paid Rs 30 as entry fee,I was informed by the office bearer that I have to retain the ticket after visiting this Masjid as the same ticket has to be shown at the entry point of Jami Masjid also. 

Beautiful Shaher Ki Masjid

Shaher ki Masjid, if literally translated means " Mosque of the city". Basically it's a private mosque built for the royal family and nobles of Gujarat Sultanate during 15-16 Century.

Mix of Indian and Islamic Architechure

Talking of the architectural aspects of this masjid, it's a mix of Indian trabeate consisting of pillars and beams and Islamic arcuate consisting of columns and arch.

Me standing on the raised platform
on which this mosque is built.

This Masjid is constructed on a raised platform.with well maintained lawn in front of the mosque. ASI has done the good job of maintaining this heritage.

 The Mosque has a large prayer hall admeasuring 56x40 metres.

Large Prayer Hall

This prayer hall has five Mirhabs and can be accessed through a central arched entrance flanked by two minarets on both sides.

Two Minarets

Central gate 

In addition to this there are two arched entrances on either side of the central one fringed by Jharokhas.

Jharokas next to the entrances

There are large domes on top corresponding to each arched entrance. The Minarets have some exquisite cravings which appears more hindu in nature than islamic. 

 Exquisite cravings

Absorbing the beautiful sight of this amazing mosque I moved on to explore the next gem Jami Masjid. Please stay tuned for my next blog on Iteri Masjid.(⇐ click here to read)

Thank You