The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c30.s1.17.3

v3.c30.s1.17.3

The mosque is a small one—only 48 feet by 19½ feet—but this very smallness is an asset in its favour, since the delicate traceries and jewel-like carvings of Gujarāt, suggestive as they are of an almost feminine grace, show to less advantage in bigger and more virile structures. Another relatively small but equally famous monument of Mahmūd Begarha’s reign¹, in which these traceries are seen to perfection, is the mosque of Sīdī Sayyid. In form this mosque is unusually plain and chaste: merely an inarched chamber, five bays wide and three bays deep, its arches supported on squared pillars, or pilasters; plain octagonal minarets (now level with the roof) at the two fore corners; and the interior lighted by demilune windows of pierced stone work. Anything more simple and unassuming, or more unlike the richly adorned mosque of Rānī Sīparī could hardly be imagined. But though such simplicity is rare enough in Gujarāt, there is no mistaking the Gujarātī genius in the graceful well proportioned arches and superbly designed window screens (Pl. XXIX). It is these screens that have made the mosque of Sīdī Sayyid world-famous. Ten of them, namely, three in each of the side walls and two in the end bays of the rear wall, are divided into small square panes, filled with ever varying foliate and geometric patterns.