Thousand Lights Mosque
Built in mid-1800 in the land donated by Nawab Wallajah. It stands at the junction of Mount
Road and Peters Road in an area known as Ayiramvilakku (ThousandLights), this mosque has two
tall minarets and a separate place of worship for women. The mosque also houses a library, a
burial ground and guesthouses.
It is referred to as the Thousand Lights Mosque because of the
legend that over one thousand lamps had to be used to light up the Assembly Hall, which stood
at this same spot. This multi-domed mosque, with sayings from the Holy Koran painted on its
walls, comes alive during the annual Moharram.
The original mosque was constructed here by
Nawab Umdat-ul-Umrah in 1800 for the assemblage of shias during Muharram mourning.
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