BI'JAPUR. ^ 441 



?ery, which is faid to be confl;ru6i:ed on a fimilar plan to that at 

 Mecca. The edifice was founded and nearly finifhed by Ali AAdil 

 Shah. It was completed by his fucceflbr Ibrahim 2d. and the or- 

 namental parts cf it were executed in the reign of his fon Mu- 

 K^AMMED. The miinbar or pulpit, confiding of three fleos of white 

 marble was furnifhed by Aurengzeb^ who alfo built the outer half 

 of the wings and the gate-way fronting the mofque. He likewife 

 chunamed the floor, anci divided it into more than tv/o iihoufand 

 mujallas or partidoos marked by black lines upon v/hich MuKame- 

 dans pray. But he carried off a ma fly lilver chain fufpended from 

 the top, to the end of which was faftened a large ruby, which, the 

 principal attendant gravely aflu red me, had a luftre fo brilliant as 

 to give light to the mofque at night. He alfo took away all the 

 myfallas of velvet fatiu and bro3d-cio:h, which formerly covered 

 the floor: every thing that he pilfered was converted into money 

 and diftributed to his troops. This account may perhaps be exagge- 

 rated 5 but as this conqueror was not very fcruptdous in n? a tiers of 

 religion, except in the obfervance of it's outward forms, tho* he once 

 affamed the garb of a fakir to cloak his ambitious defign ; and as 

 he had a ntimerous army to maintain who were fometimes clamorous 

 for pay, he thought probably as litde of robbing a mofque, as 

 fome conquerors of the Weil have done, of plundering churches. 



The next in order to the above buildings is the unfinished Mak* 

 hara of Aii-AADiL Shah. It was ccn(tru6led by the Sijltam himfelf 

 i5pon a terrace J5.feet high, and upwards of 200 feet Iquare. In 

 each face are feven loftv arches, thirty feet high and 20, broad ; and 

 between the oppolite fides are kytn rows of thefe arches. They were 

 ali completed when the Sultan died, and the work remained unfi- 

 nifhed without being roofed. It is faid th.it Ali-AAdil' SHAFi'tn'_ 

 tended to have built an upper ftory of the fame dimenfions, ov^r 



3 T. 



