Jama Masjid, Aurangabad

The Jama Masjid of Aurangabad stands near the Killa Arrak and is one of the oldest mosques in the city still in good condition. Malik Ambar completed it in 1612, soon after founding the city in 1610 under the name Khadki. His son Fateh Khan renamed the town Fatehnagar, and after the Mughals took the region in 1633, Prince Aurangzeb, on his second appointment as Deccan viceroy in 1653, made it his capital and called it Aurangabad.

Aurangzeb built the Killa Arrak next to the mosque, which then came to lie inside the fort walls running from Delhi Gate to Mecca Gate. Recognising its architectural worth, he extended it in 1692 by adding four arches at the front. Of the nine pointed arches on the facade, five date back to Malik Ambar. The mosque and the Amkhar, or public hall, are the only parts of the fort complex still in good condition.