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A part of the wall in the old citadel
(Bhadra) of the mosque built by Ahmed Shah's slave, Sidi Sayyid, is
celebrated all over the world for its exquisite stone window tracery - a
superb example of delicate carving that transforms stone into filigree.
THE EXQUISITE JALI WORK
A
prominent feature on the front of glossy city brochures, Sidi Sayyid's
Mosque, famed for the ten magnificent 'jali' screens lining its upper
walls sits in the centre of a busy traffic circle in the northwest corner
of Bhadra. The two semicircular screens high on the western wall are the
most spectacular, with floral designs exquisitely carved out of the yellow
stone so common in Ahmedabad's
mosques.
The eastern face is open, revealing a host of pillars that divide the
hall into heroes and animals from popular Hindu myths - one effect of
Hindu and Jain craftsmanship on an Islamic tradition that rarely allowed
the depiction of living beings in its mosques. The gardens around it
afford good views of the screens. Women cannot enter this mosque.
BHADRA
The solid fortified citadel, Bhadra, built of deep red stone in 1411 AD
as Ahmedabad's
first Muslim structure, is relatively plain in comparison to later
mosques.
In front of the citadel is a small public garden and Alif Shah's Mosque,
gaily painted in green and white. Further east, beyond the odoriferous
meat market in Khas Bazaar, is Teen Darwaja, a thick-set triple gateway
built during Ahmed Shah's reign that once led to the outer court of the
royal citadel. A trio of pointed arches engraved with Islamic inscriptions
and detailed carving spans the busy road below and shelters cobblers and
peddlers.