Mosque of Kartalab Khan

In every single part of Bangladesh there are some Archaeological & Historical remains, which has enriched our cultural history. Lack of awareness and proper knowledge in common people results in gradual ruining of many Historical & Archaeological sites in our country.

One of the great example of deteriorations of an Archaeological site in Narsingdi district is ‘Single domed Mosque and Tomb of Shah Mansur’ located at Kumradi, Shibpur upazila.

It was built in eighteenth century by a Muslim saint named Shah Mansur. In course of time, the existence of the mosque is totally replaced by a new built Madrasa. But, still now the remaining of ‘Tomb of Shan Mansur’ is existing, although it is hard to assume how the original structure was.

Architectural Property and Layout:

Tomb of Shah Mansur, A massive structure which is architecturally rich and decorated with different kinds of design. It is in rectangular shape and built in very unique way. In the western wall of this building there are five arch shaped entrance, among them middle one is open and decorated with multi foil design. Others are Closed arch & also contains the same design like the opened one. The southern side of the tomb is severely disturbed, broken and ruined. Main entrance of the tomb is totally vanished, but still we can observe some three archways very close to the grave of Shah Mansur. It seems like there are two grave inside the building. We assume that other grave might be Shah Mansur’s wife.

There is another unique structure situated in the southern side of the tomb. It is just a square shaped Minar containing open space inside of it, in the roof top it contains a bulbous shaped dome. It has four arch shaped ways in four brick wall.

In the most eastern part of this tomb there is a large pond. Which is probably same years old as the tomb is.

Myth related to this Structure:

There are several myths interrelated with this feature. People say that Shah Mansur used to pet a tiger inside of square shaped structure which is situated in the eastern side of the tomb. Although, It’s a myth but it contains some evidences which might prove it true. Inside of this square shaped structure there are two iron’s ring attached with brick wall.

And it is also said, Once there were some big fishes in the pond. Local people believe that, those fish were actually cursed human being and for this reason they buried those death fish in a grave yard near to Pond.

Present Condition and Immediate Conservation Issue:

Present condition of the features situated in this complex is in very sensitive condition. One domed Mosque built by Shah Mansur is vanished and a new Madrasa replacing it. The tomb of Shah Mansur is near to destruction. The whole brick building contains several banyan tree and different species of trees.
The unique square shaped Minar is also near to ruin. Beside this structure there is bathroom built very recently for Madrasa students.

Immediate steps should be taken to conserve and preserve these features from its deterioration.

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

Khan Mohammad Mridha Mosque is another archaic mosque from our Dhaka city. Unlike other mosques, this one has plenty of spaces around it, and not consumed by the proximity buildings.

The mosque was built over a very high vault like platform. Using the stair, anyone can go to the upper store and able to have the beauty of the antiquity. According to the inscription of the central doorway of the mosque, it was built during 1704–05 AD by someone named Khan Muhammad Mridha, and the mosque was named after him.

The mosque has three domes at the top of it and has four pillars at the four corners with traditional ornate. If you visit the mosque, you may find that the door is closed. It usually opens at the time of the prayer.

At the eastern side of the mosque, there is a tomb exists, but no epigraph over the tomb, so it is hard to find anything further about this. Also the there is a garden available at eastern side having various kind of seasonal flowers.

There are plenty of spaces around the mosque. It will allow you to observe the mosque without any obstacle unlike any other mosques from Dhaka City. Having roads at west and north of the mosque kept it detached from other buildings.

Among many of the structures of Egarosindur, Sadi Mosque is one of the best-conserved monuments in the country. A pertain inscription tablet, fixed over the central mihrab, record that the mosque was built in 1062 AH (1652 AD) by one Sadi, son of Shaikh Shiroo, during the reign of Shahjahan.

Measuring 25 ft. a side, the single-domed square mosque was built on a raised piece of land. There are three arched entrances in the east, and one each in the middle of the north and the south sides. The central archway, which is larger, is set within a slightly projected rectangular frame, but the flanking archways are contained within slightly recessed rectangle. The Qibla wall is recessed with three semi-octagonal mihrabs, which correspond to the three eastern doorways. The mosque represents a happy blending of Mughal elements with the Sultanate architectural traits characteristic of Bengal.

Sadi Mosjid (সাদী মসজিদ) which is around half a kilometer apart from there, on your way by passing beside the Egarosindur (এগারোসিন্দুর) Fort (though nothing is remaining now a days). Sadi Mosque (সাদী মসজিদ) is a single domed mosque similar to the Shah Mahmud Mosque. A large dome is at the top of the mosque which almost cover the whole roof. The dome is quite large and bulbous. Also, the structure is quite difficult in nature and can easily be distinguished from others.

The mosque has decorative terracotta at the outer side and the inner side of the mosque. Sadi mosque (সাদী মসজিদ) was built by someone named Sadi (সাদী) who was the son of Shaikh Shiru (শাইখ শিরু). It was during 1652, the regime of Shahjahan (শাহজাহান).

সাদী মসজিদকে বলা যায় দেশের অন্যতম শ্রেষ্ঠ সংরক্ষিত স্থাপনার একটি। মসজিদের কেন্দ্রস্থলের মিহরাবের উপর স্থাপিত শিলালিপি থেকে জানা যায় যে ১০৬২ হিজরী (১৬৫২ সালে) সম্রাট শাহজাহানের শাসনামলে জনৈক শাইখ শিরুর পুত্র সাদী এই মসজিদটি নির্মাণ করেছিলেন।

একটি গোলাকার গম্বুজবিশিষ্ট বর্গাক্ষেত্রাকার এই মসজিদটি উঁচু জমির উপর নির্মাণ করা হয়। প্রতি বাহু ২৫ ফুট দৈর্ঘ্যর এই মসজিদটির পূর্বে তিনটি, উত্তরদিকে মাঝ বরাবর একটি এবং দক্ষিন দিকে একটি ধনুকআকারের ফটক রয়েছে। মসজিদের মাঝখানের বড় ফটকটি একটি আয়াতক্ষেত্রাকার কাঠামোর উপর নির্মাণ করা হলেও অন্যান্য ফটকগুলো সামান্য নিচু আয়াতক্ষেত্রাকার কাঠামোর উপর নির্মাণ করা হয়েছে। মসজিদের কিবলার দেয়ালে পূর্বদিকের দরজা ফটকগুলো বরাবর তিনটি অর্ধ অষ্টভুজাকার মিহরাব রয়েছে। মসজিদের নির্মাণশৈলীতে মুঘল এবং সুলতানি আমলের স্থাপত্যশৈলীর চমৎকার মিশ্রণ লক্ষ্য করা যায় আর এজন্যই অন্যান্য স্থাপত্য থেকে খুব সহজেই এই মসজিদটিকে আলাদা করা যায়। মসজিদের ভেতরে ও বাইরে টেরাকোটার কাজ রয়েছে।