This is one of the most important Muslim sites in Ahmadabad, containing a number of buildings dating from the fifteenth century. Typically, the buildings consist of masonry columns supporting heavy domed masonry roofs. The earthquake caused limited damage to structures on a retaining wall around the large artificial lake which forms part of the complex; the damage may have been associated with movement of the retained soil. There was also some damage to the pavilion outside the Roza (figure 25) and limited damage to the main Friday Mosque. Overall, however, the site survived large unscathed.
Figure 25: Sarkhej, Ahmadabad - Pavilion outside the Roza
9.2 Tomb of Sayed Usman at Usmanpura
This consists of a central dome with surrounding columns supporting a heavy masonry roof. Two columns supporting the SE portion of dome had collapsed due to the earthquake and it was evident that the earthquake had caused considerable movement of the columns supporting the roof around the dome; a few of these columns had cracked (figure 26).
a) Overview b) Detail at cracks
Figure 26: Tomb of Sayed Usman at Usmanpura, Ahmadabad
9.3 Side Bashir's Minars near railway station
These two tall minars are called the shaking minars, because they have the feature that inducing sway in one minar causes the other to vibrate as well. They are over 30m high and date originally from the 10th century. The earthquake caused some cracking which had been temporarily restrained by steel rope (figure 27), but no serious damage.
Figure 27: Side Bashir's Minars, Ahmadabad
This suffered partial collapse of the SE bastion flanking the main gateway to the former palace complex. The cylindrical towers which were built concentrically collapsed partially due to the earthquake and the inner core also collapsed which was partially due to the heavy load of the internal earth filling which was done at a later date when the upper portions of the internal cylinder were abandoned. The massive brick structure had developed vertical cracks due to ageing which is also the condition in the NE bastion, which was much less severely affected. However, there is a tilt in the cylindrical masonry which might need attention. The SE bastion is currently being reconstructed.
This is situated near the Ellis Bridge and is one of the oldest mosques built in the early fifteenth century by Sultan Ahmadshh, the founder of Ahmadabad as a private mosque within the palace complex. The front portion of the mosque suffered damage and was dismantled by ASI for reconstruction. However, overall the damage to the mosque compared to other monuments was considerably less.
