Pandua, also historically known as Hazrat Pandua and later Firuzabad, is a ruined city in the

Malda district Malda district, also spelt Maldah or Maldaha (, , often ), is a district in West Bengal, India. The capital of the Bengal Sultanate, Gauda and Pandua, was situated in this district. Mango, jute and silk are the most notable products of this ...

of the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. It served as the capital city of the independent Sultanate of Bengal for nearly a century, until the capital was moved to nearby Lakhnauti in 1450.

Geography

Location

Pandua is located at .

Overview

Pandua is now almost synonymously known as Adina, a small town located about 18 km North of English Bazar (or Malda Town). Pandua is a historic city of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. It was the first

capital city A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...

of the

Bengal Sultanate The Bengal Sultanate (Middle Bengali: , Classical Persian: ) was a Post-classical history, late medieval sultanate based in the Bengal region in the eastern South Asia between the 14th and 16th century. It was the dominant power of the Ganges- ...

for 114 years (1339 - 1453). It continued to be a " Mint town" until the 16th-century. The capital later shifted to Gaur. Pandua was described by travelers as a cosmopolitan administrative, commercial and military base, with a population of natives, royalty, aristocrats and foreigners from across

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

. Pandua was a lost city until it was rediscovered by

Francis Buchanan-Hamilton Francis Buchanan (15 February 1762 – 15 June 1829), later known as Francis Hamilton but often referred to as Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, was a Scottish surgeon, surveyor and botanist who made significant contributions as a geographer and zoolo ...

in 1808. A detailed study of the city was carried out by Sir

Alexander Cunningham Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham (23 January 1814 – 28 November 1893) was a British Army engineer with the Bengal Sappers who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newly crea ...

. An aerial survey was conducted in 1931 by the Archaeological Survey of India. The notable archaeological sites include the Adina Mosque, the largest mosque in the subcontinent; the Eklakhi Mausoleum; and the Qutb Shahi Mosque.

History

Coins of the Balban dynasty of the

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate or the Sultanate of Delhi was a Medieval India, late medieval empire primarily based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for more than three centuries.

refer to Pandua as Firozabad, which is considered to be a reference to the reign of Shamsuddin Firoz Shah. In 1352, rebel governor Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah united the three Muslim states of Bengal into a single sultanate and founded the Ilyas Shahi dynasty. The Delhi Sultanate was pre-occupied with Mongol invasions in the northwest of India. Muslim governors in Bengal sensed an opportune time to establish an independent authority due to the considerable overland distance with Delhi. The creation of the sultanate is of primary importance in Bengali history, as it resulted in the separation of authority from Delhi and united all parts of Bengal into a single state. Pandua was the capital for the first one hundred years of the Bengal Sultanate. The city was called ''Hazrat Pandua'' due to the large presence of

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

preachers. Pandua was a walled city. Over the course of 114 years, nine kings ruled Bengal from Pandua. All of them were from the Ilyas Shahi dynasty, with the exception of Raja Ganesha, his son Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah, and grandson Shamsuddin Ahmad Shah. They built palaces, forts, bridges, mosques, and mausoleums, many of which are now in ruins or have disappeared completely. Sultan Sikandar Shah commissioned the construction of the Adina Mosque after Bengal's victory in the Bengal Sultanate-Delhi Sultanate War. The Adina Mosque was modeled on the Great Mosque of Damascus and became the largest mosque in the Indian subcontinent. Sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah was buried in the Eklakhi Mausoleum, which is an example of terracotta Bengali architecture. The royal palace had high steps, nine walls, three gates, and a durbar room. A contemporary account describes the durbar room as having pillars plated with brass, carved, polished and ornamented with figurines of flowers and animals; the king sat cross-legged on an elevated throne decorated with precious stones and a two-edged

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

laying across his lap. The Sultans of Bengal imitated Persianate court traditions. According to the Ming ambassador Ma Huan, Pandua was transformed from a small hamlet into a cosmopolitan capital and trade center, as well as a military garrison. The population included royalty, aristocrats, soldiers, mercenaries, natives and Eurasian travelers and merchants who either settled or were a floating population along

trade route A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over land or water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a singl ...

s. Ma Huan wrote that "the city walls are very imposing, the bazaars well-arranged, the shops side by side, the pillars in orderly rows, they are full of every kind of goods". Pandua was a center of production and marketing. At least six varieties of fine muslin, as well as

silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

products, were found in Pandua's markets. There were four types of

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

. High-quality

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

was produced from the bark of mulberry trees in the area surrounding the capital. The paper resembled lightweight white cotton cloth.María Dolores Elizalde; Wang Jianlang (6 November 2017). China's Development from a Global Perspective. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 57–70. . People from different parts of the known world were found in Pandua. The city generated significant exports, including cloth and wine. Merchants built ships, went abroad for trade and acted as royal envoys. The rich lived lavishly in Pandua. They woke up in the morning to the tune of ''sehnai'' musicians, who would be rewarded with taka and wine. The noblemen entertained with dancing women. Paan was offered to visitors. The guests were served roast beef, mutton, rose water, and various kinds of sherbet. The city's male inhabitants wore cotton robes and shirts,

turban A turban (from Persian language, Persian دولبند‌, ''dolband''; via Middle French ''turbant'') is a type of headwear based on cloth winding. Featuring many variations, it is worn as customary headwear by people of various cultures. Commun ...

s, dhutis, leather shoes and belts on the waist. Women wore cotton saris. Upper-class women wore gold jewelry. Performers would stage performances with a chained

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

. The

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

s did not eat beef. Bengali was the common language. Courtiers and merchants often spoke Persian. The capital of Bengal was shifted from Pandua to Gaur in 1450. The reasons for the shift are yet to be ascertained but a change in the course of a river has been speculated. Pandua continued to host mints that produced silver taka for the duration of the sultanate period. It was an important administrative center. The mints were known as Shahr-i-Naw and Muzzafarabad.Mint Towns
Banglapedia. Pandua's decline began with the conquest of Sher Shah Suri. Pandua became part of the

wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plurale tantum, plural) are Earth, Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human impact on the environment, human activity, or any urbanization, nonurbanized land not u ...

. Earthquakes damaged its buildings during the 19th century. The high humidity and monsoon seasons of Bengal also caused much of its architecture to crumble. Nothing remains of the former royal palace except for traces in raised mounds.

Architecture

The architecture of Pandua has elements of Bengali,

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

and Persian and architecture. Adina Mosque" style="font-size:88%; line-height:130%; border-bottom:1px #aaa solid;" heights="180"> Adina Mosque Malda (14).jpg, Adina Mosque Exterior Walls 01.jpg, Adina Mosque at Malda district of West Bengal 08.jpg, Adina Mosque exterior view.jpg, Adina Mosque at Malda district of West Bengal 07.jpg, Adina Mosque at Malda district of West Bengal 14.jpg, Adina Mosque at Malda district of West Bengal 11.jpg, Adina Mosque central mihrab on large basalt wall.jpg, Adina Mosque Badhsah ki Takht low angle shot.jpg, Excellent View of Adina Mosque.jpg, Adina Mosque Malda (37).jpg, Malda adina5.jpg, Adina Mosque Malda (17).jpg, Qutub Shahi Mosque in Pandua at Malda district 26.jpg, Beautiful sky from inside the ruins of Qutub Shahi Masjid.jpg, Inside Qutub Shahi Masjid.jpg, Inside the Qutab Shahi Masjid.jpg, Qutub Shahi Mosque at Pandua in Malda district 01.jpg, Exterior view of Qutub Shahi Masjid.jpg, Qutub Shahi Mosque at Pandua in Malda district 05.jpg, Qutub Shahi Mosque in Pandua at Malda district 17.jpg, Eklakhi Mausoleum" style="font-size:88%; line-height:130%; border-bottom:1px #aaa solid;" heights="180"> Eklakhi Mausoleum at Pandua in Malda district 02.jpg, Eklakhi Mausoleum at Pandua in Malda district 11.jpg Eklakhi Mausoleum of Pandua in Malda district 12.jpg, Eklakhi Mausoleum at Pandua in Malda district 25.jpg, Eklakhi Mausoleum at Pandua in Malda district 23.jpg, Eklakhi Mausoleum at Pandua in Malda district 04.jpg Eklakhi Mausoleum at Pandua in Malda district 08.jpg,

Notes

External links

* *
Pandua
in archnet.org
Adina Mosque
in archnet.org {{Authority control Bengal Sultanate Malda district Former capital cities in India Capitals of Bengal Tourist attractions in Malda district Ruins in India