CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY 
The Sarai Kosikalan is a Mughal-period sarai or
rest house located in the town of Kosikalan in Mathura district of Uttar
Pradesh. It stands to the west of the old Grand Trunk Road, just south of the
local police station. The sarai is likely the same place referred to as
“Cotki-sera” by the French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and was probably
built between 1615 and 1666 CE. Constructed using lakhori bricks, red
sandstone, and lime mortar, the sarai is square in plan with octagonal corner
towers and gateways on the east, west, and south sides. The monument is
protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (Agra Circle), but over time it
has been heavily altered. Modern buildings now surround the structure, and many
of the original rooms have been changed or reused as shops, making it difficult
to understand the sarai in its original form.
