3. Pre-Mughal Mosques of Bengal. 



By Monmohan Chakravarti, 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- 

 -p r , ,, ginning of Moslem rule. Tabakat-i-Nasiri 



mentions that mosques were erected in 

 the capital Lakhanawati by the first Sultan Muhammad-i- 

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

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

 oldest existing inscription regarding the erection of a mosque in 

 Bengal is that of Garigarampur in Maid a 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 mosque of Jafar Khan at Trivenl has an inscrip- 

 tion, dated 698 H. (1298 A.D.) , and is thus the oldest in Bengal. 

 At Chota Pandua the Baradwarl appears to be another old 

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

 cribes it to the time of Shah Safi-ud-din, 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- 



Trivenl naUy 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 -f 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. 



£ Ar. Sur. Rep., \v., plate xxi ; J.A.S.B., 1909, pp. 54-5. 



