Humayun's Mosque, Kachhpura, Agra

R. Nath writes that this mosque in the village of Kachhpura on the left bank of the Yamuna, opposite the site of the Taj Mahal, is the only building at Agra that unmistakably belongs to Humayun's reign and keeps its original form and fabric. ¹ It is a prayer hall with a five-arched facade, without side cloisters, monumental gateways or a minaret, of the five-arched (panchamukhi) type. ¹

Each wing beside the central nave has two bays in two aisles, four chambers on either side once roofed by cupolas; the south wing has almost entirely fallen. ¹ The nave has a lofty iwan on its face that hides the dome behind it — in essence the pylon of Muhammad ibn Tughluq's Begumpuri Masjid, which inspired the Jaunpur mosque. ¹ It is built of brick and mortar with abundant plaster, and the pylon shows clear traces of glazed tile. ¹

Two stone slabs in the nave carry Persian inscriptions: one says that "the king of the domain of faith, Muhammad Humayun" ordered this floor and roof, its date AH 937 contained in that phrase; the other that this religious edifice was completed at the expense of Zain of Khwaf, the chronogram "at the expense of Zain Khwafi" (937), signed by its composer and writer Shihab. ^{1 2} Shaykh Zain Khwafi, a learned man, friend and leading noble of Babur, wrote a Fathnama on Babur's victory over Rana Sanga and had laid out a garden here, as Babur notes. ² Nath thinks Humayun probably had no say in its design, that it was built in the preceding style, and that its importance lies in its being among the earliest Mughal monuments still in their original form. ² Nearby lies the site of a garden palace where Humayun stayed at Agra, with a huge stone block cut with steps, known as the Gyarah Sidi, which Nath suggests was an astronomical instrument. ³