26 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [January, 1910. 



(a) One-domed cubes, and 



(ft) Many-domed parallelopipeds. 



The first group is the simpler, having among other peeu- 

 Cubical Mosques. liarities the following : 



i. The halls have no internal pillars; 



ii # The halls are square in ground-plan, usually chang- 

 ing into octagonal above ; 



iii. The roof has one dome ; and where a corridor exists, 



usually with three more small domes over the 

 corridor. 



The presence or absence of the corridor subdivides this 

 group into two sections. The better-known specimens may be 

 described briefly as follows : 



a. corridorless. (a) Those without a corridor 



(I) The mosque at Molla Simla, Srlrampur subdivision, 



Hugli. Date uncertain; according to Bloch- 

 mann, 777 H., but architecturally not earlier than 

 the second half of the ninth century H. Inter- 

 nally 17 ft. sq. (externally 24 ft.); in the back- 

 wall three mihrahs, with a pulpit between the 

 second and third niches ; one door in the front 

 wall, and two smaller side doors in the side walls; 



four octagonal 



fa 



diameter of one foot ; plastering fallen from 



W 



and show- 



ing thin bricks, 6f " x 3|" x If" ; back wall buried 

 a little at the base, the remaining height 15-6". 



[See photograph and plan, figs. 3 and 4]. 



2) The smaller mosque at Chota Pandua, Huglf, 1st 



Maharram, 882 H._ (15th April, ii77 A.D.). 25| 

 ft. sq. ; three mihrabs in the back wall ; five open- 

 ings (3 4-1-4-1); four polygonal corner towers. 

 (3) Purani mosque at Goaldihi, Sunargaon, 925 H. 



(1519 AD.). 16| ft. sq. : in the back wall three 

 semi-octagonal niches; and in each side wall two 

 rectangular niches ; five openings (3 + 14-1); four 

 octagonal corner towers. 



b. With a corridor. (ft) Those with a corridor in front. 



(3) The mosque at Gopalgafij , Dinajpur, 16th Safar, 865 H. 



(1st Decemher, 1460 A.D.). Hall 12 ft. sq. in- 

 ternally; corridor 12' x 5*' ; hall openings five 

 (3+1 +1) and corridor openings five (3 + 1 + 1) ; in 

 the back wall three niches ; outer archways 6 ft. 

 high and 28" wide; the wall faced with hewn 

 stones up to a little below the arch-springs. 



