Lat Ki Masjid

This mosque, known as Lat Ki Masjid was built by Firoz Shah Tughlaq (1351-88 AD), is a unique example of Tughlaq architecture. The mosque is a combination of structures, L-shaped ablution tank and a Lat (Pillar). The mosque is built partly of red and buff sandstone and partly of rubble masonry having thick plaster. Possibly extricated from destroyed Hindu temples, the stone pillars with floral and geometrical designs engraved on them support the main arched openings of the mosque. The main prayer hall has nine bays consisting of arches supported on pillars. It has a carved qibla and a pulpit in the western wall. Within the courtyard in the north-east, there is a Lat (Pillar) and the mosque is named after it. The Lat, made of sandstone, is a part of an Ashokan pillar. A few letters in Mauryan Brahmi script can be seen at the top, while in the lower portion, names of a few individuals/pilgrims have been inscribed on a subsequent date

At the south-east end of the complex is the square Lat ki Masjid, a one-story, one-domed mosque made of red sandstone. Doors pave the way to each direction, with a stone jali (a perforated latticed stone screen) above each door. The roof has stone brackets that can be seen from outside the building. The roof has been altered with the later addition of a brick wall. The ceiling is vaulted and the roof is flat, with a single lime-plastered dome.[1][2] To the south of the dome lies an above-ground masonry pond with an underground narrow passage connecting it to the basement of the Lat ki Masjid.[1][2] Unlike the other structures inside the complex, the mosque was designed using Seljuk architecture. The qibla has been carved inside the prayer hall of the adjacent liwan hall. The mosque is divided into three parts: the central dome, the pillar, and the prayer hall. An L-shaped ablution tank is also located south of the mosque, a couple of feet away. To the southwest, the square mosque building has an exterior staircase to the roof. The mosque also has a narrow underground staircase in its northern wall, which emerges on the south-western edge of the ablution tank in the courtyard. Hisar Ashokan pillar Edicts of Ashoka, Bodh Stupa, Topra, Buddhist pilgrimage sites in Haryana, Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India, and Buddhist pilgrimage sites The mosque got its name from Lat, a column located in the northeast part of its courtyard. The Lat was once a part of an Ashokan pillar, one of the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka dating to 250–232 BCE. This has been proven by the inscriptions in Brahmi script on the pillar, deciphered in 1837 by James Prinsep, an archaeologist, philologist, and official of the East India Company.[6] The Ashokan pillar, likely taken from its nearby original location at the Agroha Mound, was cut for ease of transportation. Four of the pieces were rejoined here, and the remaining bottom portions are at the Fatehabad mosque. The four upper portions of the Ashokan pillar here are tapering registers with a finial topped by an iron rod.[1][2]