Five times a day the faithful gather around the hauz at the historic Jama Masjid in Old Delhi for ablution before daily prayers. At the centre of the water body is a circular fountain made of white marble. The fountain is placed right behind the central mihrab or niche of the mosque built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in 1650. For centuries, it has helped in water circulation in the water tank dug inside the earth.
“In the past, water from the fountain and hauz was sprinkled over the dead as many considered it sacred,” says Hakim Fazlur Rehman, a Unani doctor. “I have been frequenting the mosque since the pre-Emergency days.”
Even as the faithful climb 39 steps to reach the mosque built in red sandstone and white marble, there is another mosque barely a kilometre away with similar antecedents, and an even bigger fountain in the ablution area. Located at the far end of Chandni Chowk, the Fatehpuri Masjid was constructed by one of the wives of Shah Jahan, Fatehpuri Begum. It has a large ablution area, wide in the middle and tapering towards the two ends. At the centre of this hauz is a six feet high fountain made of white marble. It has been that way ever since the locals can remember. It didn’t change even when the mosque was bought by local businessman Lala Chunnamal for ₹19,000 after it had fallen into the hands of the British post the Revolt of 1857. It remained that way when the mosque was bought back from him in 1877. The domes, the niches, the hauz and the fountain all remained intact.
