A Garbhagriha Style Masjid

The uniqueness of Indian history lies in its intricately woven spiritual lives, beliefs that overlapped among different dynasties and regions, and the structures built to reflect the encompassed faiths. Religious temples, masjids, churches, and other sacred spaces nurtured the spirituality of various regions, eras, and communities, becoming integral to their identities. One such religious structure is the Safa Masjid, which not only showcases architectural blends of ruling dynasties but also echoes the history of the fort within its domain.

Safa Masjid Belgaum; Source: TourTravelWorld

The uniqueness of Indian history lies in its intricately woven spiritual lives, beliefs that overlapped among different dynasties and regions, and the structures built to reflect the encompassed faiths. Religious temples, masjids, churches, and other sacred spaces nurtured the spirituality of various regions, eras, and communities, becoming integral to their identities. One such religious structure is the Safa Masjid, which not only showcases architectural blends of ruling dynasties but also echoes the history of the fort within its domain.

Every legend, folk tale, mythology and historical event in India is passed on from one era to era another through ancient or mediaeval texts, oral songs, grandmother’s stories and most effectively through inscriptions, carvings, sculptures and etchings on the structures built in different stages of our civilisation and history. Of these structures, the places of worship have a major contribution to the inheritance of history etched on their walls in various art forms. Some structures or buildings are testaments to a phase in the history of the place, just like the Safa masjid which resides within the domain of the Belagaum fort, in the state of Karnataka, in south India. It was built by Asad Khan Lari as recorded by the Persian inscription,  in the early part of the 16th century when the Bahamanids were victorious in capturing the fort of Belgaum. After the decline of the Bahamani dynasty and its dissolution into 5 dynasties, the fort and its parish area came under the Adil Shahi rule of the Bijapur Sultanate.

Currently, the fort has become the regional headquarters for the Indian army owing to its plain unridged grounds and so the earlier huge gate between two massive bastions on either side is sealed for security. The other functioning gate opening within the city, overlooking Killa Lake, is a good specimen of Indian architecture and earlier had a roof with pendants. There is an inbuilt guard chamber and the exterior walls display wonderful motifs of birds and animals. But, the blend of architecture and political history is again testified by the Persian inscription on the arch of the gate which declares –

"Jakub Ali Khan, who is a joy to the heart, by whose benevolence the world is prosperous, built the wall of the fort from its base as strong as the barrier of Sicardis."

The regions that are in and around the city of Belgaum today have enough records and evidence to trace its political history before the Ratta dynasty to have survived the rules of Shatavahanas and then the Chalukyas who had to relent to the Kadambas from Goa. The Belgaum fort also shares the tales of battles fought for its capture just like its other counterparts all over the state of Karnataka. By the time the fort was graced with the Safa masjid, it had fallen into the hands of the Devagiri-based Yadava dynasty who defeated the Rattas only to be overpowered by the Delhi sultanate. This shift gave an opportunity for the Vijayanagara Empire to ground its roots in the region by the second quarter of the 14th century.

Over a century later the fort was again a bait for contention when Mahmud Gawan in a bid to expand the Bahamani sultanate captured the Belgaum fort from the declining Vijayanagara empire. The fort had to wait for almost 40 years to get renovated and reinforced by the Adil Shahis. It is during this time that the masjid in 1519 was established with intricate labyrinthine wall carvings. Much of the fort sections that stand today were reinforced by Ismail Adil Shah under the Jagirdari of Asad Khan Lari, adding taller bastions guarded by the wide moat with red sandstones around the outer walls. The masjid along with the other structures like the Jain temples illustrating their Chalukyas lineage, the shrine or dargah of Shaikh Badruddin Chishti other Hindu temples and ruined structures reside in the oval area enclosed within the fort.

The synchronisation of cultures and historical records reflected on the walls of the religious sites within the fort enriches the land with a heritage worth preserving and the history they encompass, will retain the echoes within their sanctums until they perish of neglect.

Today, access to these ancient and mediaeval monuments is through the main gate which was built in the 17th century, reached across the causeway over the moat and is now distinguished just by a chain across two cannons. The Safa masjid survived even the later victories and defeats of the Mughals, the Peshwas of the Maratha Confederacy and then the British till independence. The grounds within the fort are also deferential for being graced with Mahatma Gandhi’s presence as a nationalist prisoner during our independence struggle and for the old records of all the dynasties associated with the fort preserved under the caretaker of the dargah.

The masjid narrates an Indo-Saracenic tale through its exterior architecture while the interior main prayer hall is a replica of the Garbhagirha or the sanctum sanctorum

of the Deccan temples with granite stone flooring and the ceiling standing on square pillars displaying inscriptions and carvings. The confluence of cultures and faiths is evident in the Nagari script visible on two of the masjid’s pillars along with the other Persian inscriptions. The pillars also share political history through their inscriptions that testify to their installation by Ratta King Kartaveerya IV of the 12th century for one pillar while the other credits it to the 13th-century ruler Sevuna Krishna (Yadava). These pillars entwine the history of the masjid with the story of the Belgaum fort within which it is housed and which was constructed way back in 1204. When the chieftains of Soundatti shifted their capital to Belgaum threading their Rashtrakuta dynasty lineage evolving into the Ratta dynasty, the appointed military officer Jaya Raya or Bichiraja

initiated the construction of a fort in a bid to fortify their territory.

The sealed old gate Source: TripAdvisor

A Picture taken in 1920 of the moat and bastions of the Belgaum fort Source: allaboutbelgaum.com

Current Military gate entry to the fort Source: TripAdvisor

Interior of the masjid in Indo-Saracenic style Source: Wikimedia

Every caretaker of the Sayyid Badroddin Dargah is assigned the preservation of precious old records of 800 years of Marathas, Adil Shahis, Mughals, etc. Source: Mpositive.in