Shahi Mahal and Shahi Masjid, Udaypur, Madhya Pradesh

The Shahi Mahal and Shahi Masjid is a large palace complex located a short distance to the east of the Nīlakaṇṭheśvara temple in Udaypur, Madhya Pradesh.

The Shāhī Maḥal, which served as the residence of the local governor during the Mughal rule. Built on a rectangular plan, the maḥal has four corner towers and a two-storey elevation, with a suite of rooms disposed around two interlinked courtyards, all decorated in the simple and elegant stonecarving style of the 17th century. The existing ruins retain traces of excellent stone jālī work. Forming an adjunct of the maḥal is a big mosque, an imposing edifice locally known as Shāhī Masjid or Qāḍiyon-kī-Masjid. A Persian inscription carved on a slab measuring 65 x 42 cm, affixed on the central mihrab of the mosque, records its foundation by Qāḍi Awliyā b. Sayyid ʿAbd al-Ṣamad al-Ḥasanī on 4 Rajab 1026 Hijrī, or 28 June 1617 CE, at the time when Emperor Jahāngīr was on a visit to Mandu. A second Persian inscription carved on a slab measuring 4'1" x1', in a balcony projecting from the north wall of the mosque records that the mosque was only half complete when both king and qāḍi passed away, and that it was finally completed by Sayyid Ḥāmid and Sayyid Dāʾūd, sons of Qāḍi Awliyā, on 10 Dhū'l-Ḥijja 1041 Hijrī, or 18 June 1632 CE, during the reign of Emperor Shāhjahān. Both inscriptions show that this mosque served as the main Jama Masjid of Udaypur in the Mughal period and was the seat of the town's state-appointed qāḍi. The epigraphs are also significant for the political geography of the times, showing that qasba Udaypur was then part of sarkar Chanderi and subah Malwa, on the border of Gondwana.