Panipat is a famous city of the state Haryana. Three battles have been fought near to this city, which have been proved to be turning point in the history of the subcontinent. The first battle of Panipat was fought between Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi and the Mughal Emperor Babar, which went in favor of Babar and Babur built this mosque to commemorate this victory. Kabuli Bagh was the name of his wife. Kabuli Mosque is situated two km away from the city of Panipat in Kabuli Bagh Colony.
The main building of the mosque was built in 1527 and when Humayun defeated the descendents of Sher Shah Suri added a platform naming it as Chabutra Fathe Mubarak.
Architecture
About its architecture, the Wikipedia article says:
“Its architecture is to some extent a replica of royal mosques in Samarqand with large arched domes. Babur could not replicate the Timurid architecture fully as trained artisans and engineers were not available in India in creating this type of architecture.
There is an inscription dated 1527 which mentions the name of the King and the Queen and details about the builder. This inscription is on a distinct black marble stone. The entire gate was built with bricks and red sandstone.
The mosque built with bricks and stucco plaster within a compound wall faces north. The corners of the mosque have towers of octagonal shape on the northwest and south west directions. Its entry gate built with bricks and red sandstone has an enclosed “bracket type lintel” opening of which is shaped like a large arch; its spandrels have ornamentation, enclosed in rectangular panels provided with arched recesses. The prayer hall is large and measures 53.75 by 16.5 meters (176 by 54 ft), and is covered by a large dome.
There is a Qibla, a niche in the prayer chamber wall which is oriented towards Mecca. This central bay is visible even from the outside through its wide entrance opening. The mehrab here has an epigraph which includes the “Throne Verse from the Quran”. The prayer chamber is flanked on either side by “three-bayed triple-aisled side wings”. The front face of the mosque is high and is made up of panels which have stucco work of lime plaster. Each of the two wings has nine bays and each bay is topped by a hemispherical dome founded on low cylindrical tholobates. The parapet wall has Persian inscriptions.
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