Mosque of Kartalab Khan

Sat Masjid is located in the Mohammadpur area of Dhaka city, the building exhibits seven domes- three over the prayer chamber and four over the corner towers. Hence it is known as Sat Gombuz (seven domed) Mosque. The mosque occupies the western end of a slightly raised masonry plinth 26.82m by 25.60m, which is enclosed by a low wall with a gateway in the middle of the eastern side. This arched gateway with flanking ornamental turrets is exactly in alignment with the central doorway of the mosque proper. The top of the gateway could be approached from either the north or the south by an ascending flight of steps.

The mosque proper forms a large rectangle 14.33m by 4.88m on the inside and is emphasised with massive hollow domed towers of octagonal design on the exterior angles. The prayer chamber is entered through arched doorways - three in the east and one each on the north and south sides.

Corresponding to the three eastern archways there are three semi-octagonal mihrabs inside the western wall. Beside the central mihrab there is a three-stepped masonry pulpit. The central archway and the central mihrab, including two other archways on the north and south walls, have outwardly projected frontons depicting ornamental turrets on either flank.

The interior of the mosque is divided by two wide arches into three conventional divisions - a large central square bay and a smaller rectangular bay on either side. The roof is covered with three slightly bulbous domes on octagonal drums, the central one being bigger than its flanking counterparts. The large central dome is supported by the wide arches together with the two blocked arches over the central mihrab and central archway and the triangular pendentives on the upper angles. But in covering the side rectangles with domes a clever method has been adopted. In order to make a circular base for the dome, the rectangular space has first been made square above by creating half-domed vaults on the east and west walls. These half-domed vaults together with a further series of pendentives on the corners directly support the small domes.

The corner towers have flanking turrets like those in Khwaja Shahbaz’s Mosque and musa khan mosque, both in Dhaka city. Each of these consists of two storeys and is a monument by itself. The lower storey is pierced with four cardinally set arched openings in the north-south and east-west axis. Internally the roof of the lower storey is domical, but its reverse side is flat and forms the floor of the upper storey.

Nayabad Mosque is located in the bank of the river Dhepa, just 1.5 km south-west of the infamous Kantaji Temple at Dinajpur in Bangladesh. The mosque is named after the village “Nayabad” in which it stands in the Police Station of Kaharole. According to an inscription found on the central doorway, it was constructed at 1793 AD in the reign of Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. During that period, Raja Baidyanath, the last of the Dinajpur Royal family, was the Zaminder (feudal land owner).

Nayabad Mosque was erected at a time when the soil of Dinajpur had already been enriched with one of the most remarkable Navaratna temples, the Kantajew Temple in 1752 AD. The founding Royal family of Dinajpur was still prominent. According to local traditions, the mosque was built by Muslim architectural workers who had come to this place from the west to build Kantaji Temple. They had settled in Nayabad, a village near the temple, and had built the mosque for their own use. There is a grave of an unknown person in the premises of the mosque. Local people believe, this is the grave of Kalu Khan, the master architect of Kantaji Temple.

It is an oblong three-domed mosque with octagonal towers at the four corners. There are three arched entrances to enter the mosque. Among them, the central one is bigger than the flanking ones. These are equal in height and width. There is an arched window each on the south and north sides. Inside in the western wall there are three Mihrabs in line with the three entrances. The central Mihrab is bigger than the flanking ones which are of equal size. Three hemispherical domes cover the mosque, of which the central one is bigger than the side ones. Pendentives have been used in their phase of transition. The parapet and cornice are straight.

Terracotta plaques have been used in decoration of the mosque. At present there are about 104 terracotta plaques rectangular in shape, used in the surface decoration of the mosque walls. The platform of the mosque is enclosed by a low brick wall with only one access from the east. On either side of the mosque are to be seen a number of tombs each of found fixed over the central doorway of the mosque.

Bozra Shahi Mosque is an elegant historic mosque. Amanullah built it during the 1741-42 AD and later it was repaired by the Bazra Zamindar named Khan Bahadur Ali Ahmad and Khan Bahadur Mujir Uddin Ahmad. This mosque has similar complexion of the mosques during that era. The main difference is the stylish outer walls. It has three domes at the top; the middle dome is slight larger.

Also it has lot of small minarets at the columns of the mosque. It has three doorways at the eastern side, just under the domes. The mosque had a large water tank at the eastern side, but now it’s just shrinking into one percent of its original size. Southern side of the mosque has a large graveyard.

একটি চমৎকার ঐতিহাসিক মসজিদের নাম বজরা শাহী মসজিদ। ১৭৪১-৪২ সালে জনৈক আমানুল্লাহ এই মসজিদটি নির্মাণ করেন এবং পরবর্তীতে বজরার জমিদার খান বাহাদুর আলী আহমাদ এবং খান বাহাদুর মুজিরউদ্দিন আহমাদ এই মসজিদটি মেরামত করেন। সেসময়কার অন্যান্য মসজিদের সাথে এই মসজিদটির স্থাপত্যশৈলীতে মিল থাকলেও বাইরের নকশা করা দেয়ালে মূল পার্থক্য পরিলক্ষিত হয়। মসজিদের তিনটি গম্বুজের মধ্যে মাঝখানের গম্বুজটি সামান্য বড়। মসজিদের খামগুলোর সাথে বেশকিছু ছোট মিনার রয়েছে। মসজিদের পূর্বদিকে গম্বুজের নীচেই তিনটি ফটক রয়েছে। মসজিদের পূর্বদিকে একটি বড় পানির ট্যাংক ছিল তবে বর্তমানে সেটির আকার অনেক ছোট। মসজিদের দক্ষিনদিকে একটি বড় কবরস্থান রয়েছে।

It was built at a time when Sultani era was at its end and Mughal era had just set in. According to the inscription found in the mosque, it was built by Nawab Mirza Murad Khan, son of Jawahar Ali Khan Kakshal, in 1582 AD (989 Hijri).

The end of the 16th century AD is regarded as a tumultuous period in the history of Bengal due to anti-Mughal resistance spearheaded by the Bara Bhuiyans. During this era, the region, mentioned as ‘Sherpur Morcha’ in Ain-i Akbari by abul fazal, was the stronghold of the Kakshal rebels. They expressed solidarity with the bara bhuiyans of Bengal and the Afghan leader Masum Khan Kabuli. In fact Khherua mosque came into being to serve the community. As it was built while a political crisis was going on, a degree of negligence is evident in the construction and ornamentation of the mosque.

The rectangular mosque is 17.34 meters long from north to south while 7.5 meters wide from west to east. Its dimension from inside is 13.72 meters long and 3.8 meters wide. The walls are about 1.83 meters thick. The mosque has three entrances on the east, of which the central one is bigger than the two on its sides. Also, there is an entry on each side on the north and the south. Inside the mosque, on the west wall, there are three half-cylindrical concave mihrabs within a rectangular frame. The one in the middle is bigger than the other two and all three are devoid of any ornamentation.

Kherua mosque has three domes in a row, which look like three bowls of same size placed upside down. There is no motif or ornamentation on the domes. The construction looks similar to that of Sultani era. The two sides of the cornice are slightly curved taking after the traditional hut of Bengal. This type of roof treatment is seen in most of the 15th century architectural works. In the front walls some paneling work was done. There was some ornamentation with terracotta tiles, which are no longer there now. There were two inscriptions engraved on the two sides of the central entrance. One inscription is still there while the other is being preserved in the Karachi Museum. From the shape of the stone used for the inscription, it is assumed that the piece was the part of a statue; and the inscription was inscribed on the backside of the statue and placed on the wall. Kherua Mosque demands a great importance as an example of early mughal mosques in Bengal.