Madrasa of Alauddin Khalji is a ''

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

'' (Islamic school) located in the

Qutb Minar complex The Qutb Minar complex are monuments and buildings from the Delhi Sultanate at Mehrauli in Delhi, India. Construction of the Qutub Minar "victory tower" in the complex, named after the religious figure Sufi Saint Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, ...

Mehrauli Mehrauli is a neighbourhood in South Delhi, a district of Delhi in India. It represents a constituency in the legislative assembly of Delhi. The area is close to Gurgaon and next to Vasant Kunj. History Mehrauli is one of the seven mediev ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

, India. It was built by

Alauddin Khalji Alaud-Dīn Khaljī, also called Alauddin Khilji or Alauddin Ghilji (), born Ali Gurshasp, was an emperor of the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate in the Indian subcontinent. Alauddin instituted a number of significant administrativ ...

in 1315, and the tomb attributed to him is located inside the ''madrasa''. This is the first instance of such tomb-''madrasa'' combination in India.

Background

The ''madrasa'' was built by Alauddin Khalji () in 1315. The tomb attributed to Alauddin Khalji is located in the central room of the southern wing of the L-shaped ''madrasa'' in

. It is located south west of the

Qutub Minar The Qutb Minar, also spelled Qutub Minar and Qutab Minar, is a minaret and "victory tower" that forms part of the Qutb complex, which lies at the site of Delhi’s oldest fortified city, Lal Kot, founded by the Tomar Rajputs. It is a UNESCO W ...

and Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque. According to many ''malfoozat'' (sayings of

Sufi saints Sufi saints or Wali ( ar, ولي, plural ʾawliyāʾ أولياء) played an instrumental role in spreading Islam throughout the world. In the traditional Islamic view, a saint is portrayed as someone "marked by pecialdivine favor ... ndholi ...

), the tomb was a site of pilgrimage and people used to tie threads to seek fulfillment of their wishes. After the release of ''

Padmaavat ''Padmaavat'' is a 2018 Indian period romantic action drama film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Based on the epic poem of the same name by Malik Muhammad Jayasi, it stars Deepika Padukone as Rani Padmavati, a Rajput queen known for ...

'', a 2018 Historical drama film which includes Alauddin Khulji, the number of visitors to the tomb has increased.

Architecture

The ''madrasa'' is one of the four surviving pre- Mughal ''madrasas'' in India. It is constructed in an L-shape around a quadrangular court which can be entered through a gateway located towards its north. Only remains of the gateway have survived. There are seven small cells and two high-domed chambers forming the western wing of the ''madrasa''. The domes are "high-drummed" and corbel arched gateways are underneath them. The domes of these chambers are supported by the corbelled

pendentive In architecture, a pendentive is a constructional device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or of an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to point ...

s – the first instance of their use in India. The cells were probably used as the apartments. Three rooms form the southern wing of the ''madrasa.'' The tomb attributed to Alauddin Khalji is located in the central room. The central room measures . The walls of the room are thick and are made of rock and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

. However, currently they are eroded except the sharp-edge rocks beneath them. The dome of the room has been destroyed over time. Galleries or narrow passageways on both sides of the central room separate it from the other rooms of the ''madrasa''. The tomb is . The tomb does not have any headstone or inscription. The tombs in the central and western rooms were discovered during excavations conducted in the early 1900s. The tomb is the first example of a tomb within a ''madrasa'' to be built in India. This is a feature of

Seljuk architecture Seljuk architecture comprises the building traditions that developed under the Seljuk dynasty, when it ruled most of the Middle East and Anatolia during the 11th to 13th centuries. The Great Seljuk Empire (11th-12th centuries) contributed si ...

Gallery

File:Alauddin Khalji's Tomb 02.jpg, Tomb of

File:Tomb of Alauddin Khilji, Qutub Minar complex, Delhi.jpg, The room in which Khalji is buried File:Alauddin Khalji's Madrasa 09.jpg, The madrasa as seen from courtyard The madrasa was a school

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Madrasa and tomb of Alauddin Khalji Alauddin Khalji Buildings and structures in Delhi Architecture of the Khalji dynasty Tourist attractions in Delhi Mehrauli World Heritage Sites in India Buildings and structures completed in 1315