Rani Sipari Roza
Ahmedabad, India

Rani Sipri Roza (more accurately Rani Sabrai) is a mosque and tomb complex located just inside the Astodia Gate of the old walled city of Ahmedabad. An inscription dates the structure to the year 920 AH (1514 CE). It is named after the wife of Sultan Mahmud Begra.

The mosque is a rectangular building, closed on three sides and open on the east side where it adjoins a paved square. The open east facade is framed by two ornately carved minarets that take the form of engaged pillars tapering as they rise to a height well above the roof. The interior of the mosque is a prayer hall two aisles deep. The aisles are formed by two rows of pillars: a single row of eight pillars down the middle of the hall, placed in four pairs closer together leaving three wider bays between each pair; and a double row in the same positions along the entrance. Six domes cover the larger bays (three per aisle). 

Three mihrabs mark the direction of prayer along the back wall, and two ornately screened windows allow light to pass through this wall into the building. Two ornate balcony windows open from the southern side wall onto the street, which is lower than the mosque, and one window opens from the northern wall.

The tomb is situated directly opposite the mosque across the square on the east side. It is a square pavilion with a central domed chamber surrounded by an ambulatory. The dome rests on twelve pillars that in turn support a solid square that raises the dome above the level of the roof. Four smaller domes cover the corners of the ambulatory. The outer walls of the ambulatory are screened with jali work, and doors open on the west and south sides of the structure.

Sources:    

Burgess, James. The Muhammadan Architecture of Ahmadabad. Part I - A.D. 1412 to 1520, 84-87.  Archaeological Survey of Western India, Vol. 7. London: William Griggs & Sons, 1900.

Michell, George, and Snehal Shah, eds. Ahmadabad, 87. Mumbai: Marg Publications, 1988.

Location

Ahmedabad, India

Images & Videos

Associated Names

Events

1514/920 AH

Dimensions

48 x 19.5 ft (area of mosque)

Additional Names

Rani Sabrai Roza
Original
Rani Sipri Roza
Alternate transliteration

Site Types

funerary
religious