Brief
Walipur Alamgiri Mosque is situated in Walipur village under Hajiganj Upazila of Chandpur district. There are two mosques in the same locality – one known as Shahi Alamgiri Mosque and the other as Shah Shuja Mosque. The Alamgiri mosque has suffered much due to subsequent restoration works. Nevertheless, enough still survives to give an idea of its original plan and design. A Persian inscription in fine nastaliq character, fixed over the central doorway, records the construction of the mosque by one Abdullah in 1692 AD in the reign of Alamgir Aurangzeb.
In the middle of the eastern facade of the oblong mosque (15.24 m by 8.23 m) there is a projected fronton bordered with octagonal turrets through which opens out the main doorway. This has a higher arch with a half-dome within a rectangular frame. There are two more doorways in the eastern facade, one on either side of the central opening, having an outer arch with a half-dome below. Each of the north and south walls is pierced with a pair of arched doorways. The mosque has therefore seven archways in total -three in the east and two on each of the north and south walls. The four exterior angles of the building are strengthened by octagonal towers, which are carried beyond the horizontal parapets and topped over with kalasa finials, but have now been renovated.
Two massive octagonal brick pillars divide the interior of the mosque into five square bays – a large one in the middle (5.87m a side) and two smaller ones on its either side which are arranged in the east-west axis. Archways interconnect the bays; the arches are placed directly on two free standing octagonal pillars and engaged semi-octagonal pillars. It is worth noting that these arches are continued upwards as walls to make the bays above. This special device has given the mosque a two-storied appearance internally. All the five bays are roofed over with domes crowned with lotus and kalasa finials on cylindrical drums. The domes are carried on half-domed squinches on the upper corners and the blocked arches in between the square inches in the middle of the walls.
Octagonal turrets rising high above the horizontal parapets border the outside projection of the central mihrab, like that of the central archway. Inside, there are three mihrabs in the qibla wall. The central mihrab is semi-octagonal in design, but the flanking mihrabs are of the shallow rectangular type.
The original plastering of the building has been replaced by modern cement plaster. The horizontal parapet is now plain. The facade of the central archway projection is marked with shallow rectangular panels, each being further enriched with such motifs as plants and small trees with flowers in stucco. The central mihrab arch springs from beautifully decorated pilasters and has foliaged designs at its spandrels. The rectangular frame of the central mihrab, though now barely plain, is topped over with a frieze of blind merlons. A fine specimen of Mughal stucco ornamentation is still preserved in the squinches and blocked arches in between, which support the domes above. The extrados of the squinch arches and blocked arches are ornamented with interlocking scrolls, while the tympanums of the blocked arches are minutely embellished with floral scrolls with intertwining rosettes in the centers. Above them all round the interior base of the cylindrical drum runs a slightly sunken frieze decorated with floral scrolls.
Five-domed type mosque, one of the important varieties of Bengal mosques, shows two sub-types: (a) a mosque with a large central dome and a pair of small domes on each side in the same line and (b) a mosque with a large central dome and four small domes on the corners. The present mosque is the culminating example of the second variety. Both in planning and in the execution of elevation details of the building, the architect and the artisans have left behind a clear mark of their skills and perfection of ideas. The division of the interior of the mosque into five squares has been very scientifically effected by the disposition of two octagonal short massive freestanding pillars instead of the two east-west wide arches of the previous examples of the series. Mosques on this model were not built in Bengal for a long time, but almost two centuries later the type reappeared in the Becharam Dewri Mosque (1872) in the city of Dhaka. In plan Becharam Dewri Mosque is an exact copy of the Alamgiri Mosque but inferior in quality and elevation details.
Such mosque design in Bengal started with austagram mosque and evolved through the sarail mosque and the Walipur Alamgiri Mosque. The design is really unique. Question may now arise as to the origin of this particular kind of Bengal mosques. In Turkey under the early Ottomans the mosque of Rustam Celebi (c first half of the 15th century) at Tokat provides perhaps the earliest known example of its kind with five domes – the large central one and a small one on four corners. Similar plan is also found in such other Ottoman mosques as the Guzelce Hasan Bey Mosque (1406) in Hayrabolu and the Uc Serefeli Cam (1437-47) at Edirne. These mosques are generally regarded as the precursors of the great Ottoman mosques at Istambul – Bayezid mosque (1501-06), Sulaymaniya Mosque (1550-59), and the beautiful Selimya Mosque (1569-75) at Edirne. The five-roomed or five-domed planning of the Ottoman mosques may perhaps be said to have been dictated by those of some early Muslim buildings of Syria.
In India the Jamat Khana Mosque (1310-16) at Delhi is a lone example of its kind. This mosque design continued to have been practiced in Northern India in an elaborated form in Humayun’s Mosque (1530) at Agra, where four small domed-rooms, instead of two, are attached on either side of the large central domed chamber. It may, therefore, be said that the plan of the second variety of the five-domed type mosques in Bengal was not innovated by Bengal architects, and its idea is very likely to have been borrowed from the sources stated above, particularly perhaps from those of Turkey or Upper India.
Written by: MA Bari
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[name] => Harano Masjid
[post_id] => 4775
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The ‘Harano Masjid’, discovered 27 years ago in village Ramdas under Panchagram union Parishad of Lalmonirhat Sadar Upazila still under the ground. It is situated about 15 kilometers south-east of Lalmonirhat town and only two kilometers away from the Rangpur-Kurigram road from Barobari point. The mosque is 21 feet wide and 10 feet long. There are four pillars. Two of them are damaged.
Often, visitors from different places visit the mosque believing that it was made by the followers of the great Prophet. Considering the belief, local people call it Sahaba Keram Mosque. Many historians and researchers claim that it is probably the first mosque built in the sub-continent in the year 69 Hijri of Arabic calendar. The researchers found that the `Harano Masjid’ was built after 61 years of building the Koanta mosque in the Chinese port city of Canton on the bank of the river Koanta in the Hijri year of 8.
Locals said that the ruins of the mosque were first found in 1986 during clearing of the jungle areas there to make the land arable. The area was earlier known as’ Mosder Ara’, locally meaning that a deep forest containing a mosque of ancient times. It was not known to the local people till 1986 that there was a mosque. In fact, they could not comprehend what `Mosder Ara’ really meant for though they knew the place as like as their forefathers. It is now clear that `Mosder’ means mosque and `Ara’ means a jungle or deep forest. The place was a dense and fearful forest for centuries, full of wild animals like tigers, poisonous snakes, foxes and other animals. Nobody entered the jungle till 1986 out of fear, but the locals said that in the course of time the mosque sank into the earth beyond the knowledge of anyone, and a mound developed there under a big `Sheora’ tree, perhaps following an earthquake.
According to the Imam of the mosque Hafez Mohammad Abdul Hamid and some elderly people in the area, there was a very big `Paikor’, tree on about an acre of land there in the jungle covering the whole area of the mosque long ago. Hundreds of families were evicted from their lands during the British period when construction of Lalmonirhat Airport at Lalmonirhat town started for the use of the British Air Force during the Second World War. The evicted families went to the nearby areas of village `Mosder Ara’ for resettlement. In the course of time, the deep forest was gradually reduced in area with construction of houses.
Some people or their forefathers had bought two acres of land including the Ara of the then untraced mosque some decades ago. The very big tree was also sold and the two acres of land were divided into three equal parts among the owners of the land in 1985. The portion of the land containing the untraced underground ancient mosque went to the share of Omar Ali of the village who sold his part to Shamsul Haque. During the clearing of the jungle in 1986, the ruins of an ancient building were found while digging the land.
Ayub Ali, an elderly person in the village found six pieces of special size bricks with handworks on them. Other people and laborers also took away bricks, thousands in number after digging the area. The bricks found by Ayub Ali had some inscriptions on them. Kalema Taiyeba `La Elaha Ellallahu Muhammadur Rasullullah’, 69 Hijri year were inscribed in Arabic on some of those bricks. Some other stones bore inscriptions of flowers.
Local people then informed the journalists and researchers of their findings in the beginning of 1987. Hundreds of people including Islamic researchers and historians started to flock the area became sure of an ancient mosque at the site which was built in the 69 Hijri year (690 AD).
The surrounding areas were partially dug then and local people found huge ruins of minarets and other structures which were built only for a mosque. There had been a number of miraculous incidents in the village concerning the power of the `Harano Masjid’. They also confirmed that the Harano Masjid at village Ramdas was built by those Sahaba-E-Kerams in the Hijri saying that the Almighty has blessed the people of the present time to know about the `Harano Masjid’ which literally means “lost mosque”.
Referring the terracotta brick which was found from the mosque compound the founder and director of Lalmonirhat District Museum Ashrafuzaman mandol said that the mosque was built in 69 hijri. At present, the loose bricks are kept in Tazhat Museum in Rangpur by the Deputy Commissioner of Rangpur. Another mosque was built in 1364 AD by Arabian merchants who came to the region to promote Islam as well as for trading in the sub-continent through Brahmaputra and Teesta rivers.
Tem Steel, a British researcher and the Chief Adviser of the Tiger Tours Ltd. visited the mosque. He told the locals that during the lifetime of the Prophet two mosques were built in South Asia, one in China and another in India. But there is no archeological evidence at present in favour of the claim. But this mosque has evidence that it was built in 69 Arabic years. Possibly it is the mentioned mosque in South Asia. He also added that according to construction year it is an ancient mosque in the history of Islam. So as a Muslim country it should be protected and repaired by the government. ”I believe that this lost mosque is a part of Islamic heritage. The Arabs and Chinese who use to come to this area for trading used to take shelter in various places and worked for the promotion of Islam”. He urged to do more research on the mosque.
The principal of Harano Masjid Hafiziya Madrasha Mawlana Abdur Rahim said that an 11-member” 69 Hijri Harano Masjid complex committee was formed on April 12 in 1993 with Dr. Shah Muhammad Emdadul Haque as its president. After his death, Muhammad Nuruzzaman Bosunia is carrying out the responsibility as the new President. The committee has opened a visitor’s book there on the same day on April 12 in 1993, which has already been signed by thousands of visitors both from home and abroad.
The president of mosque committee Muhammad Nuruzzaman Bosuniya said that the committee has planned to rebuild the `Harano Masjid,’ to establish a Madrasha, one Islamic Library, a research centre, a Musafirkhana and an orphanage with 100 seat capacity on the mosque premises. “Reconstruction and renovation works of the mosque had started some four years ago. The ancient brick samples have been sent abroad for examinations,” he said adding that many people both from home and abroad wanted to donate funds and other assistances to assist the committee but no response yet.
He added that the ex-local MP, also was the Deputy Minister for Relief and Disaster Management Principal Asadul Habib Dulu along with State Minister for religious Affairs Mossarref Hossain Shahjahan MP, visited the mosque site on June 5 in 2003. They discussed with the committee members and they assured them of all possible cooperation to reconstruct the mosque and other complexes there on 62 decimals of land as soon as possible but it was only giving promises. “Now we need supports and funds to protect the heritage site. The people here in the village are poor and most of them live hand to mouth are not capable to donate fund for continuing upgrading work for the mosque,” he said appealing supports and funds from the kindhearted people in home and abroad.
Source: The daily Star
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[name] => Belabo Bazar Mosque
[post_id] => 7930
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Belabo Bazar Mosque,a grand mosque constructed with Tk 35 million, was inaugurated on 8th of November 2008. At least 12,000 people can say their prayers at a time at the mosque of 200 feet length and 125 feet width. Renowned industrialist of Narsingdi district Abdul Kadir Mollah carried the whole construction cost of the mosque.
The first founder and land owner of the Moque named 'Alhajj Mahmud Ali Bhuiyan' donated his land for building this Mosque. Who is known as 'Mamdi Bepari'. Later Abdul Kadir Mollah announced his grand donation on a public place in Belabo to build this Mosque as a Mega Structure. Local people feels proud to be the inhabitants of this Upazila. Many people from different direction come to visit this Mosque everyday.
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[name] => {:en}Tetulia Shahi Mosque{:}{:bn}তেতুলিয়া জামে মসজিদ{:}
[post_id] => 2028
[post_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/bn/places/tetulia-jami-mosque/
[thumb_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Tetulia-Shahi-Mosjid-satkhira-021-300x225.jpg
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Tetulia Shahi Mosque is also known as the Khan Bahadur Salamatullah Mosque. This mosque was found by Khan Bahadur Maulvi Qazi Salamatullah Khan, the then Zamindar (feudal-lord) from Qazi family of Tetulia. He was also the founder of the mansion named Salam Manzil (now in ruins) in the vicinity. The six-domed mosque was built similar to Mughal style in 1858-59. Their resembles were built by Tipu Sultan's descendants, as does the Salam Manzil, now in virtual decay.
[This spot needs more detail. If you have more information and photos, please be advised to add in our website. Your name will be published as a Content Contributor]
{:}{:bn}খান বাহাদুর সালামতউল্লাহ মসজিদ এবং তেতুলিয়া শাহী মসজিদ নামে পরিচিত তেতুলিয়া জামে মসজিদটি সাতক্ষীরা জেলার তালা উপজেলার তেতুলিয়া গ্রামে অবস্থিত। তেতুলিয়ার কাজী পরিবারের জমিদার খান বাহাদুর মৌলভী কাজী সালামতউল্লাহ খান এই মসজিদটি নির্মাণ করেন। এছাড়া তিনি অত্র অঞ্চলে এক সময় অবস্থিত সালাম মঞ্জিলও প্রতিষ্ঠা করেন। ছয়গম্বুজ বিশিষ্ট এই মসজিদটি মুঘল স্থাপত্যশৈলীতে ১৮৫৮-৫৯ সালে নির্মাণ করা হয়। এই মসজিদটি এবং বর্তমানে ধ্বংসপ্রাপ্ত সালাম মঞ্জিলের সাথে টিপু সুলতানের উত্তরসূরিদের নির্মিত স্থাপনার মিল রয়েছে।{:}
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[name] => {:en}Golakata Mosque and Dighi{:}{:bn}গলাকাটা মসজিদ এবং দীঘি{:}
[post_id] => 1782
[post_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/bn/places/golakata-mosque-and-dighi/
[thumb_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Galakata-Mosque-and-Dighi-1.jpg
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Golakata Mosque and Dighi were built in 16th century AD. the mosque's gigantic structure makes it very special. It stands 150 feet tall. The steps were made by bricks. Recently it looks a bit distinct. It is mixed with some colors but white & reds are frequently used. There is a huge prayer space where many people say their prayer.
There is a very big Dighi known as Galakata Dighi. This place becomes very calm and relaxed in evening by the whining of birds. Many people come here to chill. This Dighi is filled with natural beauty.
[This spot needs more detail. If you have more information and photos, please be advised to add in our website. Your name will be published as a Content Contributor]
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১৬শ শতকে নির্মিত গলাকাটা মসজিদটির বিশেষত্ব হল এটির বিশালাকৃতি। প্রায় ১৫০ ফুট উঁচু এই মসজিদটি অত্যন্ত যত্নের সাথে নির্মাণ করা হয় এমন একটি সময়ে যখন প্রযুক্তিগত দিক দিয়ে এই অঞ্চলের মানুষ পিছিয়ে ছিল। মসজিদের সিঁড়িগুলো ইটের তৈরি ছিল। তবে, বর্তমানে মসজিদটিকে সামান্য আলাদা দেখায়। মসজিদটিতে বিভিন্ন রঙ ব্যবহার করা হলেও লাল এবং সাদা রঙের প্রাধান্য চোখে পড়ে। গলাকাটা মসজিদের নামাজ আদায় করার স্থানটি বেশ বিশালাকারের।
এখানে গলাকাটা দীঘি নামে একটি বিশাল দীঘি রয়েছে। বিকালবেলা পাখিদের কিচিরমিচিরে দীঘির পাড়ে এক প্রশান্তিকর পরিবেশের সৃষ্টি হয়। প্রাকৃতিক সৌন্দর্যে ভরপুর এই দীঘিতে অনেকেই আসেন প্রশান্তি অর্জনের জন্য। দীঘিতে ভ্রমনের জন্য এবং এটির সৌন্দর্য উপভোগের জন্য এখানে বিভিন্ন আকারের নৌকা রয়েছে। এখানে আসলে আপনি বিশাল প্রকৃতিকে দেখে মুগ্ধ না হয়ে পারবেন না। প্রকৃতিকে দেখার পাশাপাশি আপনি দীঘিতে গোসলও করতে পারবেন।
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