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



is said to have been built after the celebrated 

 mosque of Damascus. 

 (15) Gunmant mosque, Gaur. Inscription lost, 



88J H. (?), 1484 AD. Hall with a corridor- 

 Hall, externally 140'-9"x 59'3f, and the corridor 

 from its remains appears to have been a long one, 

 about 18 ft. wide. The hall is divided into a cen- 

 tral nave 51/ x WW and two wings, the nave 

 being separated from each wing by two octago- 

 nal pillars, 4 J ft, square at the base. In each 

 wing are eight square pillars in two rows of four 

 each. In the back wall are nine bays, one for 

 the nave and four for each wing. Including the 

 wide opening of the nave, the hall had nine 

 openings in front, besides three openings on each 

 side (9 + 3 + 3 or 15). The nave is covered by a 

 ribbed vault with gable ends, and each wing by 

 twelve hemispherical domes. The lower part of 

 the walls up to the springing of the arches is of 

 stones, rough blocks inside with cut facings. The 

 brick walls faced with glazed tiles. In ruins now. 



C.— Pecultak Mosques. 



Under this head fall the peculiar structures known as 

 nr. -i 13 i^ Kadam Rasul. Strictly they are not 



JJadam Rasul Build- mosques> but plaCes sanctified by the 



presence of prophet's footprints. Hence 

 they do not contain prayer -inches. Kadam Rasul buildings 

 have been erected at various places in Bengal, e.g., near Mur- 

 shidabad, at Katak and Balasore in Orissa, in Sunargaon and 

 N" abiganj (Dacca) , and elsewhere ; but with one exception none 

 of them appears to be pre-Mughal. The only exception is that 

 at Gaur built in 937 H. (1530 A.D.). It consists of a three- 

 doored hall, 25'-2"x 15', with a verandah on three sides, 9'"2* 



wide. 



arched 



one on each side or five in all (3 + 1 + 1). At each corner stands 

 an octagonal tower, with the diameter of each face, 1''5" wide. 

 According to traditions the sacred foot-print had been brought 

 originally to Pandua by Shah Jalal-ud-dln Tabrizi ; and these 

 traditions must be pretty old, as in an unique gold coin of 

 Fath Shah dated 890 H., the saint is described as " the Shaikh 

 that waits on the Kadam Rasul.' 5 From Pandua the foot- 



* mm 



prints were removed to Gaur, and were enshrined in this large 

 edifice built by Sultan Nasrat Shah. 



The simplest form of prayer-place is the Idgah, a masonry 



Idgahs. wa ^ Wl ^ 1 prayer niches, facing which the 



Musalman prays, kneeling on a platform. 

 No existing Idgah can be traced to the pre-Mughal time. 



