page_title: Jahanpanah
section_title: Bijay Mandal
hierarchical_section_title: Jahanpanah / History / Bijay Mandal
caption_attribution_description: English: Ruins of Kalu Sarai Masjid.
context_page_description: Jahanpanah was the fourth medieval city of Delhi established in 1326–1327 by Muhammad bin Tughlaq, of the Delhi Sultanate. To address the constant threat of the Mongols, Tughlaq built the fortified city of Jahanpanah subsuming the Adilabad fort that had been built in the 14th century and also all the establishments lying between Qila Rai Pithora and Siri Fort. Neither the city nor the fort has survived. Many reasons have been offered for such a situation. One of which is stated as the idiosyncratic rule of Mohammed bin Tughlaq when inexplicably he shifted the capital to Daulatabad in the Deccan and came back to Delhi soon after.
  The ruins of the city's walls are even now discerned in the road between Siri to Qutub Minar and also in isolated patches behind the Indian Institute of Technology, in Begumpur, Khirki Masjid near Khirki village, Satpula and many other nearby locations; at some sections, as seen at Satpula, the fort walls were large enough to have few inbuilt storerooms to stack provisions and armory. The mystery of the city's precincts has unfolded over the years with later day excavations revealing a large number of monuments in the villages and colonies of South Delhi.
context_section_description: Bijay Mandal is a building with a layout plan of 74 m (242.8 ft)x82 m (269.0 ft) dimensions, with a well proportioned square dome. It cannot be categorized as a tower or a palace. It is a typical Toghlaqi structure with an octagonal plan built in rubble masonry (with massive battered sloping walls on east, west and southern directions) on a raised platform with doorways in each cardinal direction. The purpose of this unusual structure and the ruins of the Sar Dara Palace was described by  Ibn Battuta as the palace with multiple chambers and the large public audience hall as the famed Hazar Sutan Palace. It was also interpreted as serving as an observation tower to monitor the activities of his troops. The ambiance of the place presented it as a place to relax and enjoy the scenic view of the environs. The inclined path around the monument was a walkway leading to the apartments of the Sultan. Two large openings in the living rooms of the floor were inferred as leading to the vaults or the treasury. On the level platform, outside the building in front of the apartment rooms, small holes equally spaced are seen, which have been inferred to be holes used to fix wooden pillars to hold a temporary shamiana (pavilion) or cover. The process of ushering people into the presence of the Sultan was devious and formal involving entry through semi–public places to private chambers to the audience hall. The debate on whether the Hazara Sutan Palace cited as existing during Alauddin Khalji reign and also during Tughlaq's time are one and the same palace has not been conclusive. A plausible hypothesis is that the stone hall of the palace was built by Alauddin Khalji while the tower adjoining the stone buildings was surely built by Mohammed bin Tughlaq.
  Archaeological excavations carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India unearthed treasures from the vaults in the buildings, which date the occupation of this monument during Feroz Shah's reign and also by Sheikh Hasan Tahir (a saint) during Sikander Lodi’s rule at the beginning of the 16th century. Also, excavations done in 1934 have revealed wooden pillar bases attributed to the Hazar Sutan Palace.
  Within the close precincts of the Bijay Mandal, a domed building is seen which has a unique architectural façade of two openings on each of its three sides, interpreted as an annex to another building (based on underground passages seen in the adjoining structure). However, the purpose for which this dome was built is not known.
  Kalusarai Masjid
  Kalusarai Masjid has located 500 m (1,640.4 ft) to the north of the Bijaymandal but it is in a highly dilapidated state (pictured) needing urgent attention for restoration in view of its heritage monument status. At present, it is occupied as a residential complex by a few families. The Masjid was built by the famous builder of Mosques Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul Tilangani, Prime Minister during Feroz Shah Tughlaq's reign, as one of his seven mosques; built in the same architectural style as the other six built by him. But even now the visible decorations of the mihrab appear to be more intricate than in his other mosques. When built with rubble masonry and plastered, the mosque had seven arched openings as the frontage, three bays depth-wise and crowned by a sequence of low domes in typical Tughlaqi architectural style.
caption: Ruins of Kalu Sarai Masjid
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