3. Pre-Mughal Mosques of Bengal. 



By Monmohan Chakeavarti, M.A., B.L., M.R.A.S 



In the article on Bengali Temples l I pointed out how the 

 Hindu structures were influenced, and powerfully influenced, 

 by old Bengali mosques. A few words on these buildings will 

 not therefore be out of place, specially as I notice considerable 

 confusion in the general notions about such mosques. 



A. — Earliest Mosques. 



Mosques had been built in Bengal from the very be- 

 ™ ,. . , T ginning of Moslem rule. Tabakatri-Nasiri 



Earliest Mosques. *=• "• ,1 . ' ,t # . 



mentions that mosques were erected m 

 the capital Lakhanawati by the first Sultan Muhammad-i- 

 Bakhtyar (596-602 H.), and his successor Husam-ud-dln 'Iwaz 

 (612 ?-624 H.).* No building of their times has survived. The 



inscr 



Bengal 



Malda District, It bears 



the date 1st Maharram 647 H. (16th April, 1249 A.D.) in the 

 time of the Sultan Jalal-ul-hak Ma'sud Shah Jani. 3 This 

 mosque, too, is no longer traceable. 



Of the existing mosques the oldest ones are found near 

 Satgaon. The 



Kh 



H 



At Chota Pandua the Baradwari appears to be another old 

 mosque. It has lost its inscription, if any. Tradition as- 

 cribes it to the time of Shah Safi-ud-dm, said to be a contem- 

 porary of the aforesaid Jafar Khan, and the architectural details 

 resemble largely those of Jafar Khan's mosque. These two may 

 be briefly described as follows : 



1. Jafar Khan's mosque of Trivenl. 698 H. Exter- 



TrivenI nally 76'-9" x 34'-7". In the 



hall, pillars partly buried in 

 earth, ten in number, in two rows of five each, 

 6 to 8 ft. high, the front row hexagonal, the back 

 row square and octagonal; openings on three 

 sides, five in front, and two on each side 

 (5 + 2 + 2), with unequal interspaces ; back- wall 

 with five prayer niches (corresponding to five 



1 J.A.S.B., 1909, pp. 148—150. 



2 "Raverty's Translation, pp. 560, 583. 

 5 Ar. Sur. Rep., xv., plate xxi : J.A. S 



