Sultanate Mihrab (Prayer Niche)

Artist Delhi Sultanate (Indian, 1206 - 1526)

Place of OriginIndia

DateNovember 1320 (720 AH)

Dimensions45 1/8 × 16 × 7 1/2 in. (114.6 × 40.6 × 19.1 cm)

Mediumwhite marble

ClassificationArchitectural Elements

Credit LinePurchased with funds given by Drs. Sam and Fadia Abaza, Drs. S. Mansoor Abidi and Farhana Habib, James S. Adray, Mr. and Mrs. Naveed Ahmed, Dr. and Mrs. M.Y. Ahmed, Dr. and Mrs. Nasir Ali, Dr. Abed and Mrs. Ghada Alo, Dr. and Mrs. Steven M. Ariss, Dr. and Mrs. Fayyaz H. Hashmi, Dr. and Mrs. Raza Hashmi, Dr. S. Amjad Hussain, Dr. Saleh A. Jabarin, Cherrefe A. Kadri, Dr. Abida Khan, Michael S. Orra, Dr. NurJehan Quraishy, Drs. M. Razi and Shadida Rafeeq, Drs. Syed and Tabinda Rehman, Hussien and Randa Shousher, Dr. and Mrs. Karim Zafar, and with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

2010.6

Not on View

DescriptionThe mihrab is composed of a rectangular marble slab that was taken from a Hindu context-- probably a temple-- and re-carved for use as an Islamic mihrab (a prayer niche that marks the qibla, i.e., the direction of Mecca toward which a Muslim directs prayer). The front is framed by a flat surface carved with a part of the dedicatory inscription at the base. Vine tendrils and vegetation, a major form of decoration in both Christian and Muslim architectural art, are carved in low relief on the frame's three other sides. The niche itself curves back from the frame and includes the opening part of the inscription at its base. The niche rises vertically to a series of three cusped lobes on each side that lead to a pointed arch, which curves and counter-curves to a pointed apex. Surrounding the upper forms are the spandrels, two flat surfaces deeply carved with lotus blossoms and vine tendrils. The apex of the niche contains a carved ring and four links of a chain, remnants of a fuller carving that dropped to the middle of the niche and probably supported the image of a lamp (evidence for this is found in two surviving and roughly contemporary niches from the Gujarat that retain their original decoration). Interestingly, the back of the slab has carved remnants of Hindu gods!

Label TextA mihrab, or prayer niche, is installed in the qibla wall of a mosque that marks the direction to Mecca, the holy city towards which Muslims pray five times a day. This mihrab dates to the period of Islamic rule over much of India under the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1555). Along the base, a carved inscription in Arabic honors the man who paid for the work: …the chief sadr and noble … of Islam, Umar ibn Ahmad ibn Abi al-Fath al-Kazaruni, ordered this blessed mihrab … on the date in the blessed month of Ramadān the year seven hundred and twenty. The carver of the mihrab reused a block of marble that likely came from an older Hindu temple. The back (see illustration) still displays the carved remnants of Hindu deities. This carved stone demonstrates how monuments and materials served new contexts as cultural boundaries shifted in northern India.Published Referencescf. Burgess, J. On the Muhammadan Architecture of Bharoch, Cambay, Dholka, Champanir, and Mahmudabad in Gujarat. Architectural Survey of Western India 6. London: 1896. cf. Lambourn, Elizabeth. "Carvings and communities: marble carving for Muslim communities at Khambhat and the around the Indian Ocean rim (late 13th-mid-15th centuries CE)." Ars Orientalis 34 (2004): 101-35. cf. Lambourn, Elizabeth, "A collection of merits..." Architectural Influences in the Friday mosque and Kazaruni tomb complex at Cambay in Gujarat." South Asian Studies 17 (2001): 117-149.Exhibition HistoryPrinceton University Museum, February 1998 - Spring 2006.