Alamgir Mosque, Varanasi

The Alamgir Mosque, also called Aurangzeb's Mosque, stands in a commanding spot above Panchaganga Ghat in Varanasi, where broad steps lead down to the Ganges. Aurangzeb built it after taking the city in 1669 and named it after his imperial title, Alamgir.

The building mixes Indo-Islamic and Hindu forms, with high domes. Its tall minarets proved fragile: the English scholar James Prinsep restored them in the 19th century, but in 1948, around the time of floods, one collapsed and killed a few people, and the authorities later took down the other for safety. Panchaganga Ghat below is held to be the meeting place of five streams, and in October lamps are raised on bamboo poles here to guide the spirits of ancestors.