The following is an extract (pages 117-121) from the book Muslim Architecture of South India, written by Mehrdad Shokoohy. Mr.Shokoohy is an architect, chairs architecture study in the University of Greenwich and was in Kayalpatnam in late 1980s. The book was published in 2003 by RoutledgeCurzon in the United Kingdom. To buy this book, click here (www.a1books.co.in)

The small mosque of Appapalli, like the nearby Marakkayarpalli, is associated with the family of Shaik Sulaiman and is said to have been the theological establishment of a distinguished son of Shaik Sulaiman known as Shaik Sam, or Sham as pronounced locally. According to the local tradition, Shaik Sham Shahabuddin Waliullah was born in 1044/1634-5 and the date of his death is recorded in his tomb as 21st Rajab 1121/26th September 1709. The tomb must have been built just after the death of the shaikh, early in the 18th century, but the mosque is earlier and in spite of its traditional layout and the early form of its structural elements, it is said to date from the time of the Shaikh.

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The mosque is set on a platform about 70 cm. above ground level and has an entrance colonnade at the eastern side leading to a prayer hall with four columns, dividing it into three bays. The shafts of the columns and the corresponding pilasters have the traditional five alternating square and octagonal registers, and, as with the Marakkayarpalli, the four rows of lintels in the prayer hall rest both on the columns and on the roof slabs, which, as usual, are arranged with those of the central aisle set about 35 cm. higher than the rest. The building had originally a door flanked by windows in each wall except on the west, where there is a mihrab instead of a door, but recently all the windows have been widened and made into doors. The mihrab is rectangular in plan and has an arch almost semi-circular in profile with a pointed ogee. Its projection outside the wall is also angular.

The eastern colonnade is in two bays; the inner bay is preserved without alteration, having two columns similar to those inside the hall. The outer bay is altered, and while the original north and south walls are preserved, its front columns are replaced by two plain columns about twice the height of the original ones. The ceiling of the outer bay is also reconstructed at a higher level, and is supported in front by these tall columns and at the back by a wall set on the original lintels of the inner columns. However, the lines of the original ceiling on the walls of the portico are still preserved, indicating that the roof of the outer bay sloped forward originally.

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It is difficult to date the building, as its general layout, the form of its mihrab and the columns are analogous with 14th and 15th century examples, but traditional plans were employed in the buildings of Kayalpatnam until the last century and we have also noted that in the area a large number of structural elements from older buildings can still be found. The building could, therefore, have been constructed with such elements, which must have been plentiful at the time of the 17th century resettlement. The details of the doors and the windows have been altered considerably, leaving little indication of how they were, so the original form of the colonnade may give a better indication of the date. We have seen that such colonnades were usually in one bay, but in most buildings a second bay was added to the original one at a later date, and in some of the buildings, such as in the Rettaikulampalli, the added outer bay had a sloping roof. If the two-bay form of the Appapalli colonnade is original, it may be possible to agree with the local tradition that the building was constructed in the 17th century, but probably with spoil from ruined structures. An earlier date, however, is not entirely unlikely.