317. Plan of Jumma Musjid, Bijapur. (From a Drawing by A. Cumming, C.E.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.
As will be seen from the plan ([Woodcut No. 317]), it would have been, if completed, a rectangle of 331 ft. by 257 ft. The mosque itself is perfect, and measures 257 ft. by 145 ft., and consequently covers about 37,000 sq. ft. It consequently is in itself only a very little less than the mosque at Kalburgah; but this is irrespective of the wings, which extend 186 ft. beyond, so that if complete it would have covered about 50,000 sq. ft. to 55,000 sq. ft., or about the usual size of a mediæval cathedral. It is more remarkable, however, for the beauty of its details than either the arrangement or extent of its plan. Each of the squares into which it is divided is roofed by a dome of very beautiful form, but so flat ([Woodcut No. 318]) as to be concealed externally in the thickness of the roof. Twelve of these squares are occupied in the centre by the great dome, 57 ft. in diameter in the circular part, but standing on a square measuring 70 ft. each way. The dimensions of this dome were immensely exceeded afterwards by that which covers the tomb of Mahmúd, constructed on the same plan and 124 ft. in diameter; but the smaller dimensions here employed enabled the architect to use taller and more graceful outlines, and if he had had the courage to pierce the niches at the base of his dome, and make them into windows, he would probably have had the credit of designing the most graceful building of its class in existence.
318. Plan and section of smaller Domes of Jumma Musjid.
Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
319. Section on the line A B through the Great Dome of the Jumma Musjid. (From a Drawing by Mr. Cumming.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
If the plan of this mosque is compared with that of Kalburgah ([Woodcut No. 314]), it will be seen what immense strides the Indian architects had made in constructive skill and elegance of detail during the century and a half that elapsed between the erection of these two buildings. If they were drawn to the same scale this would be more apparent than it is at first sight; but on half the present scale the details of the Kalburgah mosque could hardly be expressed, while the largeness of the parts, and regularity of arrangement can, in the scale adopted, be made perfectly clear in the Bijapur example. The latter is, undoubtedly, the more perfect of the two, but there is a picturesqueness about the earlier building, and a poetry about its arrangements, that go far to make up for the want of the skill and the elegance exhibited in its more modern rival.