Hindu goddesses in a historical Mosque

While the Qutub Minar is the highlight of the 12^th century Qutub Complex, tucked away in a leafy and relatively quiet corner of south Delhi, the complex also houses what used to be a mosque in its time. The alpha male symbolism of the Qutub Minar, which was built as a ‘Victory Tower’ is hard to miss, but the mosque, in contrast, has surprisingly, feminine elements to it.

The feminine elements are found in the carvings on the remaining walls and pillars of the mosque, known as the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque. And these are no generic feminine elements – they are actually references to the Hindu goddesses Ganga and Yamuna, which represent the two major rivers in India.

How did this even happen?

It is believed that the masons who constructed the mosque in the initial days of the Islamic rule were sourced from local areas and came in with their own cultural sensibility. It is also likely that they were Hindus themselves, who prayed to Ganga and Yamuna as deities.

The representation of Ganga is through the symbol of the ‘Makara’, who is also the mythical carrier of the goddess Ganga. The Makara has been termed as a ‘sea-dragon’ and comes closest to a crocodile in description. However, it is supposed to be a half-mammal and half-fish. As per The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols, the Makara has been defined as having “the lower jaw of a crocodile, the snout or trunk of an elephant, the tusks and ears of a wild boar, the darting eyes of a monkey, the scales and flexible body of a fish, and the swirling tail feathers of a peacock.”  

The Makara in its entirety is a popular symbol in Hindu and Buddhist culture, appearing in the form of a gatekeeper at entry points of buildings, at religious places and even in jewellery. In the mosque, however, only the tail of the Makara is visible. Therefore, it can pass off as just about any pattern on the carvings, if familiarity with the symbols is not known. Similarly, a continuous swirl of water, represents the river Yamuna.

But these are hardly the only representation of divine Hindu female forms at the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque.

The mosque houses multiple pillars, which were earlier part of Hindu and Jain temples built by Prithviraj Chauhan and the Tomar dynasty. When these temples were plundered at the time of the Islamic invasion, the carved pillars in these temples were then placed in the mosque. As a result, there are rows of pillars with very obviously temple carvings, many of which are of the female form. However, since Islam does not allow for prayer of the human form, the carvings have been defaced, though the rest has been kept intact.

Even though traditional Hindu symbols like these don’t find a place in the later constructions in the complex itself, as the Islamic rule found its footing and masons with a more Central Asian aesthetic migrated to Delhi, their existence in the first place indicates strand of welcome cultural liberalism.