Dai Anga Mosque

Dai Anga Mosque (Urdu: دائی انگہ مسجد ) is a mosque situated to southeast of the Lahore Railway Station, in the city of Lahore in Pakistan's Punjab province. The mosque is said to have been built in 1635 in honour of the wetnurse of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, Dai Anga.

Dai Anga Mosque
دائی انگہ مسجد
The 17th century Dai Anga mosque's exterior is richly decorated with qashani tile work.
Religion
AffiliationSunni Islam
Location
LocationLahore, Punjab Pakistan
Geographic coordinates31°34′30″N 74°20′21″E
Architecture
TypeMosque
StyleIndo-Islamic, Mughal
Completed1635 or 1639 C.E.
Specifications
Dome(s)3
Dome dia. (outer)16 feet
Dome dia. (inner)19 feet
Minaret(s)4
Materialsbrick, marble

Background

Born as Zeb-un-Nisa, Dai Anga, was well respected in the royal family, and the mosque was said to be commissioned by her, and built prior her departure for the Hajj. Her family was closely associated with the Mughal empire. Her husband Murad Khan served Emperor Jahangir as Magistrate of Bikaner, and her son Muhammad Rashid Khan, was the best archers in the kingdom, and died fighting in the service of Shah Jahan's eldest son Dara Shikoh. The Tomb of Dai Anga is known as the "Gulabi Bagh," and is also located in Lahore.

History

The mosque was said to have been built in 1635, however, the inscription in the mosque is said to date it to 1649 Under Sikh rule, the mosque was used as a military magazine under the rule of Ranjit Singh.[1] During the British Raj, the mosque was converted into railway administration offices.[2]

Architecture
The mosque is lavishly decorated with elaborate tile work

The mosque was designed on a scaled down version of larger Mughal mosques, such as the nearby Badshahi Mosque. The mosque is fronted by an 84-foot wide courtyard, while the building itself is divided into three section. The central section is the largest and is topped by a 19-foot dome. This is flanked by two smaller sections with 16-foot domes. The central portion of the mosque is elaborately decorated with predominantly blue, orange, and yellow qashani tile work. The interior also displayed fine frescoes previously, unfortunately these have largely been replaced by modern tiles.[3]

The exterior of the mosque has been embellished with fine tile work, echoing similarities to the tiles of the Wazir Khan Mosque. The exterior features rich decorative works in tile as well.

Conservation

The mosque is listed on the Protected Heritage Monuments of the Archaeology Department of Punjab.[4]

References
  1. "Dai Anga Mosque". Lahore Sites of Interest.
  2. Glover, William (January 2007). Making Lahore Modern, Constructing and Imagining a Colonial City. Univ Of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0816650224. the mosque of Dai Anga, Emperor Shah Jahan’s wet nurse, which the British converted first into a residence and later into the office of the railway traffic manager. Nearby was the tomb of Nawab Bahadur Khan, a highly placed member of Akbar’s court, which the railway used as a storehouse... manager. Nearby was the tomb of Nawab Bahadur Khan, a highly placed member of Akbar’s court, which the railway used as a storehouse. That same tomb had been acquired earlier by the railway from the army, who had used it as a theater for entertaining officers.The railway provided another nearby tomb free of charge to the Church Missionary Society, who used it for Sunday services. The tomb of Mir Mannu, an eighteenth-century Mughal viceroy of Punjab who had brutally persecuted the Sikhs while he was in power, escaped demolition by the railway but was converted nevertheless into a private wine merchant’s shop
  3. "Dai Anga Mosque". Lahore Sites of Interest.
  4. Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency. "Guidelines for Critical & Sensitive Areas" (PDF). Government of Pakistan. pp. 12, 47, 48. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
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