JReport of the Arcli(Eologieal Survey. 



lxxvi 



p. 577. According to these authors, the original name was most probab- 

 ly the Kaldn Masjid, or " Great Mosque.' 5 This is no doubt correct, 

 as, when I first visited this Mosque in February 1838, the people in 

 charge called it by that name. The common name, however, is the 

 Kdla Masjid. But I am quite satisfied that this could not have been 

 the original name, as the taste of those days would most assuredly 

 have covered the whole building with a coating of coloured plaster. 

 The present name of Kdla Musjid could not therefore have been given 

 to it until most of the plaster had fallen off, and the bare walls of dark 

 grey quartzose sand-stone had become visible. 



142. The Kdla Masjid is a single room 71 feet in length by 41 

 feet in breadth, with two rows of four pillars each down the centre, 

 and one row of coupled pillars along the front. These columns divide 

 the whole area into 15 squares, each of which is covered by a small 

 dome, the central dome being somewhat higher than the others. 

 The walls are six feet thick, with three openings at each end, closed 

 by massive red stone lattice-work. In front of the building there is 

 a small open quadrangle, of the same dimensions as the interior 

 of the Mosque, and on three sides of the quadrangle there are cloisters 

 which are continued round the Mosque itself. The whole is enclosed 



i by an outer wall 5 feet thick, which forms an oblong block of building 

 140 feet in length by 120 feet in breadth. On the outside the build. 

 ing consists of two stories, the middle of the lower story being a solid 

 mass, which forms the floor of the Masjid. The four faces of the lower 

 story have two rows of small rooms, which are now rented to petty 

 shop-keepers. This is the invariable practice at present, and was, no 

 doubt, the same in the time of Firuz, as the money thus obtained 

 always formed the principal revenue, and eventually became the only 

 income of the attendants of a Mosque. The lower story is 28 feet in 

 height, and the upper story to the top of the battlements is 38 feet 

 making a total height of 66 feet. The four angles are supported by 

 small round towers with sloping walls as plain and bare as the rest of 

 the building. The entrance to the upper story is reached by a steep flight 

 of steps, at the head of which, but outside the general mass of building 



as a domed ante-room of small dimensions. The walls of the upper story 

 are pierced with a row of arched openings which correspond in number 



and size with the doorways of the lower story. These were once filled 



with bold strong lattice-work ? but many of them have been built up 



m 



