The Bongo Project

Two Culverts from Sultanate Bengal
Chapai Nawabganj

Culvert at Gaur, Chapai Nawabganj:

This culvert is situated under Mauza Singarhat,
Shahbajpur Union, Upazila Shibganj, District Chapai Nawabganj, Bangladesh. It is adjacent to Satranji Dighi at a distance of one kilometre of Chota Sona mosque.
The arch is broken but two sides of the bridge are intact as noticed in previous visits. Mortar is lime and brick dust of a high quality. Marks of placing of a piece of equipment or barrier which was lifted and lowered down for controlling flow of water on either side of the culvert were observed. Orientation of the culvert is almost eastwest i.e. there was a northsouth road going to the Small Golden mosque. This dilapidated bridge measures 36 feet eastwest X 18 feet northsouth. This is a protected monument of the Department of Archaeology, GoB.

Culvert near Small Golden mosque:

This bridge is also under Mauza Singarhat, Shahbajpur Union, Upazila Shibganj, District Chapai Nawabganj and similar to the above mentioned bridge. It is about 200 m. northeast of Chota Sona mosque. “It is reported that this
bridge was built on a link road from Gopalpur through Sonapur, Salampur to Chhota Sona Masjid”. The arch is broken but two sides of the bridge are intact. Mortar is lime and brick dust of a high quality. This is a protected monument of the Department of Archaeology, GoB.

Though these are protected monuments, there are no signboards of DoA. Even the book published by DoA in 2002 "Lakshmanabati-Gaur, had no mention of these two.

All the images are taken during the field visit of Chapai Nawabganj for Deapartment of Archaeology in November 2019. First 3 photos are the culvert adjacent of Satranji Dighee and others are from culvert near Choto Sona Mosque.

পঞ্চদশ শতকের শুরুর কথা। বিহার থেকে আক্রমণ করতে এসেছেন জৈনপুরের সুলতান ইব্রাহিম শর্কি, দিনাজপুরের রাজা কংস বা গণেশ যে গৌড়েশ্বর হয়ে উঠেছেন। এতে নাখোশ সূফী দরবেশ সম্প্রদায়। তাই আক্রমণে সাহায্য করার সব আশ্বাস দিয়ে রেখেছেন নূর কুতুব উল আলম। সঙ্গে পাওয়া গেল বিহারের সূফী সাধক মীর সৈয়দ আশরাফ জাহাঙ্গীর সিমনানিকেও। দাবার গুটির চালে গণেশ এগিয়ে দিলেন তার পুত্র সন্তান- যদুকে। ইসলাম ধর্ম গ্রহণ করে তার নাম হয়ে গেল জালাল উদ্দিন মোহাম্মদ শাহ। ওদিকে বিহারের ঘাড়ে নিঃশ্বাস ফেলতে শুরু করেছে দিল্লি। ফেরত যেতে হল সুলতানকে। এরপর যদুর কি হল? এ রকমের অনেক ইতিহাস নিয়ে কথা হবে গৌড় পাণ্ডুয়ার পথে হাঁটতে হাঁটতে।

ছবি: জালাল উদ্দিনের ফিরোজাবাদ টাকশালের রৌপ্য মুদ্রা।
ইভেন্ট লিংক: https://www.facebook.com/events/2816529551770221/

Chhota Pandua Bari Mosque (Great Mosque of Chhota Pandua)
Hughli, West Bengal, India

Chhota Pandua Bari Mosque an imposing structure of pre-Mughal period stands at Chhota Pandua in the Hughli District of West Bengal. The absence of any inscription stands in the way of determining the name of the builder or the date of construction. Local tradition indicates the mosque was built by Shah Safiuddin, who, along with Zafar Khan Ghazi, is said to have invaded and conquered Pandua on behalf of Firuz Shah (Shmsuddin Firuz Shah).

The authenticity of this legendary account has not yet been substantiated. Some elements, such as the use of red thin bricks for construction, the reportedly low hemispherical shape of the lost domes of the roof, typical stone pillars in the liwan, utilisation of lithic materials quarried from demolished temples and low pointed arched doorways etc have been taken to suggest an early 14th century date for the mosque.

This structure is a long low building measuring 231 feet X 42 feet, with three aisles, having 21 door openings in front and 3 on the sides, and here the roof has 63 small domes resting on brick arches springing from stone pillars of Hindu design. The arches are clearly visible in the older drawing2 published by Blochmann gives a better view. The arches spring directly from the back wall without any pilaster or even impost. The corners are filled with corbelled pendentives, which take the base of the dome. At the time of Sir Alexander Cunningham's visit the outer face of the front wall was profusely ornamented with small patterns in carved brick. Some of the pillars within the mosque are decorated with chain and bell motif. on the western wall there are 21 mihrabs, all highly carved, the one illustrated by Blochmann. depicts rectangular panels having floral motifof the type seen in the mosque of Zafar Khan Ghazi. A beautiful canopied pulpit is also provided within the mosque. The pulpit stands on a raised platform, to which approach is given by seven steps. The step stones are all carved and the canopy opens on three directions through a well-balanced arch. In the north-western corner of the mosque is an enclosure, popularly called chillkhana of the saint, but more appropriately it should be recognized as a ladies' gallery. Cunningham compares the plan of this mosque with that of the Fort Masjid at Jaunpur, but the comparison hardly stands except that both the mosques emphasize the length and do not give due consideration to the breadth. On the other hand the Fort Masjid at Juanpur, with its plan divided into three sections- the middle one having domes, and side ones only pillared halls- provides the proto-type, which was later to be developed in all the mosques erected at Juanpur during the time of the Sharqis. The Bari Masjid at Chhota Pandua comes closest to the mosque of Zafar Khan Ghazi in its general oblong plan, the design of the front facade with its arches resting directly on pillars, and the interior look with long vistas of successive arches springing directly from the pillars.

Dakhil Darwaza
Gaur, Malda, Bengal, India

The main entrance to the fortified citadel of Gaur is given by a grand gateway with at tall pointed archway- Dakhil Darwaza (Entrance Gateway). According to few enthusiasts that the Dakhil Darwaza was built after the pattern of the Dwarbasini gate of Lakhnauti, which is untraceable now.

There are lots of debate on who erected this huge gate and when. generally it is believed that this have been built during the reign of Sultan Barbak Shah, the celebrated builder of an aqueduct and Nim Darwaza (middle gate) inside of the citadel. The gate is architecturally similar to the trend of the late Ilyas Shahi period, started by Sultan Mahmud Shah n Gaur. So historians and archaeologists assumed that the gate was erected by Mahmud Shah, as he built the citadel as well as chand gate. Cunningham considers Chand gate as an exact replica of Dakhil Darwaza. Therefore it is reasonable to suppose that the Dakhil Darwaza must have been built earlier than the Chand gate, both belonging to the reign of Sultan Mahmud Shah.

Visiting Gaur in 1640, Manrique records that he walked towards the outer rampart wall and passed through an arched gateway, ornamented with floral decorations cut in stone. It seems quite possible that he entered by the Dakhil Gate on the north, which formed the tunnel 112 feet long and had four towers, one at each corner. Forty years later, Hedges gave an eyewitness account of the 'Pallace of Gawre' and observed that, 'the building was chiefly bricks, arches of the gates and many other places were of black marble and other black hard stones...' Orme, who paid a visit to the ruins of Gaur in 1745-46 observed, 'the archway, in length, breadth and the height is equal to any in the fort at the Presidency with lodgments on each side, in the same manner it is built for the most part of brick, three being only some rough marble in each front.'
Thomas Daniell (1788-89) drew a sketch of Dakhil Darwaza records, 'By the appearance of the adjoining wall it is probable that this gate belonged to the fort.' This is one of the earliest known examples of a gate building complete by itself in the true Bengali style.

This gateway measures 113 feet in length by 73 feet in breadth witha height of nearly 60 feet. It is buttressed by four tall and slightly tapering and delicately reverted towers, one at each corner. The corner towers are twelve sided, five storied in height and crowned by 'Firuzian cupolas'. The central archway measures 34 feet in height, while the battlemented wall rose 15 feet, making a total height of 49 feet. The tall pointed archway of the principal entrance with medallions at the spandrels is in perfect harmony with the alcove arch above, and flanked by 'a pylon like buttress, one on each side of the frontage and guarding the portal.'
The portico between the two pylons leads to a central vaulted passages, 14 feet wide and 113 feet long with a guard room on each side, 74 feet long by 9 feet broad. The walls of the tunnel vault, 0 feet thick, are pierced by four doorways instead of three. The massive brick piers between the doorways are made of brick, cased with stones up to the springing of the arches, but, all the rest of the building is made of brick. The inside arches of the central passage provide entrance to the guard rooms on each side, which are pierced by two outer doorways on the inner side of the rampart.

According to Abid Ali, 'the existing building was first constructed with ornamental facing work all round, but the base of the building on the east and west was later covered with earth and connected with adjoining rampart walls. Traces of Pucca steps for reaching the top of the embankment from inside are also found and the rampart itself is strengthened by a skeleton of brickwork, pieces of stone with large holes in them, fixed to the walls of the gateways, show how gigantic were the gates which were suspended from these stones. The wings of the gate were bolted by a large iron bar or wooden pin as is seen from the long holes running into the wall, one on each side of the passage.'

Lambourne is of opinion that, 'the earthen ramparts on both sides of the gateway have their bases as broad as the length of the structure and slope steeply upwards to a height almost equal to that of its arched roof.'

The Dakhil Darwaza provides an interesting example of what can be gained with brick and brick alone. Iy exhibits all the splendour of decoration common to the building of the Muslim conquerors of india. The wall and turrets alike are relieved by string niches and rossettes and other ornamental designs of hindu origin among which the chain and bell, battlement and quatrefoil are conspicuous. But the outstanding merit of this gateway is the surprising boldness of its design and the masterly skill with which its facade have been broken up and diversified by alternating effects of light and shade.

The twelve sided towers are divided into five distinct stories by four lozenge impressed mouldings with decoration of jali work underneath and blind merlon above. These mouldings correspond with those of the facade of the gate. The frontages on the two sides of the principal arch are also similarly relieved by five panels, filled with ornamental patterns. A vivid impression is provided by offsets and recesses. While the former contains foliated motifs, the latter is filled in with a foliate motif, hanging from the apex of the trefoil arch.
The facade archway is decorated with embossed lotus rosettes at the spandrels above which rise tiers of mouldings, crowned higher up with a bold decorated niche, resembling an oriel window. The alcove arch is also surrounded by tiers of moulding with a design, consisting of a rosette within a star at the spandrels. The star designs, along with tiers of mouldings, hanging motifs, rossettes bear close affinity to those of the Chand gate.

The Dakhil Darwaza is one of the splendid monuments in which structure and decorative beauty went hand in hand, resulting in a perfect example of brick architecture. Immensity was never a hindrance in the overall architectural design of the Dakhil gate. The parts are so judiciously and harmoniously adjusted as to form a compact central theme. In design, the Dakhil gate implies an interesting fusion of the classic and the romantic, with traces of the indigenous or rustic. The classic is represented by the grand shape and proportions of the portal and its arched portico, and the romantic quality may be seen in the position and slope of the corner bastions while the influence of the country may be observed in the indigenous surface treatment obtained by a system of vertical and upright lines and mouldings thus presenting a naively elementary pattern of rectangles.

Dakhil Darwaza is a remarkable testimony to the excellence of brick and terracotta architecture. It shows the boldness and balanced architectural plans that merge with ostentatious decorative designs.