The Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra (literally "shed of 2½ days") is a historical former mosque in the city of Ajmer in Rajasthan, India.

Commissioned by Qutb-ud-Din-Aibak in 1192 CE and designed by Abu Bakr of Herat, the mosque is an example of early Indo-Islamic architecture.

It came to be known as a jhonpra ("shed" or "hut") when fakirs started gathering here to celebrate urs (death anniversary fair) of their leader Panjaba Shah.

[3] Epigraphic evidence suggests that the site had a Sanskrit college building commissioned by Vigraharaja IV (alias Visaladeva), a king of the Shakambhari Chahamana (Chauhan) dynasty.

[1] According to Caterina Mercone Maxwell and Marijke Rijsberman, the Sanskrit college was a Jain institution, and the building materials were taken from Hindu temples.

According to a local legend, after defeating Vigraharaja's nephew Prithviraja III in the Second Battle of Tarain, Muhammad of Ghor passed through Ajmer.

There, he saw the magnificent temples, and ordered his slave general Qutb-ud-Din-Aibak to destroy them, and construct a mosque – all within 60 hours (that is, 2+1⁄2 days).

The artisans could not build a complete mosque in 60 hours time, but constructed a brick screen wall where Ghori could offer prayers.

Another inscription, dated Dhu al-Hijjah 596 AH (September–October 1200 CE), names Abu Bakr ibn Ahmed Khalu Al-Hirawi as the supervisor of construction.

[11] Iltutmish, the successor of Qutb-ud-Din-Aibak, subsequently beautified the mosque in 1213 CE, with a screen wall pierced by corbelled engrailed arches — a first in India.

The Maratha leader Daulat Rao Sindhia (1779–1827) restored the central dome of the building and imposed a ban on the removal of stones from the structure.

James Tod visited the mosque in 1819, and described it in his Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan as "one of the most perfect as well as the most ancient monuments of Hindu architecture."

[13] The front facade of the structure features a huge screen with yellow limestone arches, built during the reign of Iltutmish.

The archway features Kufic and Tughra inscriptions and quotations from the Koran, and is reminiscent of Islamic architecture from Ghazni and Turkistan.

Some of the carvings feature Arabesque floral and foliate patterns; their geometric symmetry is reminiscent of Persian tilework.

[1][9] The 19th century American traveler John Fletcher Hurst described the screen as "a gem of great renown throughout the Mohammedan world.

The minarets are now ruined, but their remnants show that they were sloping hollow towers with 24 alternately angular and circular flutes, just like the ones in the Qutb Minar of Delhi.

[8] Alexander Cunningham praised the architecture of Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra and Quwwat-ul-Islam mosques in the following words:[8] In boldness of design, and grandeur of conception, which are perhaps due to the genius of the Islamite architect, these two splendid mosques of the first Indian Muhammadans are only surpassed by the soaring sublimity of the Christian Cathedrals.

But in the gorgeous prodigality of ornament, in the beautiful richness of tracery, and an endless variety of detail, in delicate sharpness of finish, and the laborious accuracy of workmanship, all of which are due to the Hindu masons, I think that these two grand Indian mosques may justly vie with the noblest buildings which the world has yet produced.Scottish architectural historian James Fergusson similarly remarked:[5][15] As examples of surface-decoration, these two mosques of Altumush at Delhi and Ajmir are probably unrivaled.

Nothing in Cairo or in Persia is so exquisite in detail, and nothing in Spain or Syria can approach them for the beauty of surface decoration.Today, the site is visited by people of all religions, as a fine example of a mix of Indian, Hindu, Muslim and Jain architectures.