Moth Ki Masjid is one of the oldest mosques established in Delhi in 1505 by Wazir Miya Bhoiya, Prime Minister during the reign of Sultan Sikander Lodi (1517–26). This is an enormous mosque which has an interesting story to its name and has been intricately designed such that it was being considered a beautiful Dome (Gumbad) structure of the period. Moreover, it is extremely and interestingly different from the various other mosques.
It is also been referred to as The Lentil Mosque which has been named after the literal translation in English language of The Moth ki Masjid. The factor which attracts maximum visitors is that it being located in a modern locality of South Extension Part II, Uday Park and Masjid Moth comprises residential and commercial establishments in the urban setting of South Delhi.
Legend
The Masjid’s X factor that attracts maximum tourists is its deeply rooted and enriching history. As the history puts forward the fact this mosque was built by investing the revenue which was profited from huge amount of crop that grew only from a single grain of moth. It was at the time when the Mughals were reigning on an merely developed empire. With the ebbing off of political tension Mughals started focusing on the sharpening of their cultural, aesthetic, and artistic capabilities.
The story goes like this that one day when Miyan Bhuwa was walking along Sikandar Lodi, then Lodi picked a lentil called moth ka dal and presented it to him. The minister wanted to utilize the present in the finest way possible as a token of thanks to the king’s unusual gesture so he decided to sow the seed in the garden. Not in his dreams did he think that the seed would grow up so fast and produce 200 grains a year.
In the following passage of time the country witnessed a green revolution. The yield procured from the grain was so high that the minister decided to invest a part of the revenue in building a mosque. Being extremely pacified with the minister he himself named the mosque Moth ki Masjid.
Structure:
Constructed on a high podium, the mosque appears to be square in layout. It can be reached from the eastern side street of village Moti Masjid through a complicatedly designed gate which exhibits red, blue, black and white coloured sandstones artwork.
As one goes up the gateway steps one finds itself in a magnificent courtyard of 38.6 m (126.6 ft) width surrounded by walls. On the western side of the courtyard is the main shrine or the mosque with a foyer which is rectangular in shape and also has an exterior five arched openings. The corners of the foyer are embellished with double storied towers. The west side wall is ornamented with tapering turrets that displays a cosmopolitan outline.
The Mosque is all in all an epitome freedom of imagination and a deadly combination of contrasting light and shade, which makes it the most enchanting buildings of its kind in the entire range of Islamic art.
