ABSTRACT
In the 14th century, to the south of modern Delhi, the Barrapullah stream, a tributary of the Yamuna was dammed at Satpula. In this way the Tughlaq dynasty provided drinking water and a moat for their fortress city Jahanpanah (meaning literally ‘the shelter of the world’). Jahanpanah was the fourth city of Delhi and its new walls enclosed the virgin scrub and woodland between Lal Kot, the first city, and Siri Fort, the third city. The Satpula dam formed part of these walls but still allowed the stream and floodwaters to pass through to the broad, enclosed flood plain within (Peck 2005). At the same time nearby, just inside the walls, but above the flood plain, an experimental mosque called Khirki (1375; the mosque of windows) was constructed. It was built using stones recycled from 27 Hindu and Jain temples destroyed by the first Muslim rulers. The plan of this mosque was highly unusual (a cruciform plan with four internal courtyards instead of one central court). The mosque was abandoned within just a hundred years as it divided the faithful into four small groups rather than combining prayer sessions within one common space.
