The Chawkbazar Shahi Mosque () also known as Chawk Mosque is a

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

located in the

Chowk Bazaar Chawk Bazaar is a sprawling wholesale market area in Dhaka, Bangladesh, with hundreds of shops, market stalls and vendors. It dates to the 17th century CE when under Mughal rule. The bazaar is located in the Chowkbazar Thana part of Old Dhak ...

area in the old city of

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

.MA Bari
Chawk Mosque (Dhaka)

Banglapedia ''Banglapedia:'' ''the'' ''National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh'' is the first Bangladeshi encyclopedia. It is available in print, CD-ROM format and online, in both Bengali and English. The print version comprises fourteen 500-page volumes. The ...

: The National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh,

Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is an organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of " Oriental research" (in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions). It was founded by the philologist Will ...

of Bangladesh,

, ''Retrieved: 2012-09-18''

History

The mosque was constructed in 1664 by Subahdar

Shaista Khan Mirza Abu Talib (b. 22 November 1600 – d. 1694), better known as Shaista Khan, was a general and the Subahdar of Mughal Bengal. He was maternal uncle to the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, and acted as a key figure during his reign. Shaista Khan ini ...

.*Husain, A. B. (2007). Architecture – A History Through Ages. Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (page 287). The mosque is known as the Shahi Mosque because it was founded by Subahdar Shaista Khan. The mosque is built above a raised platform. The three domed mosque above the platform, now transformed into a multi-storied structure was originally a copy of

's another three domed mosque at the Mitford Hospital compound near the Buriganga River. There are some square-shaped rooms built for the Imam and for students of the madrasa. Today the original building design has lost much of its original form through multiple renovations and extensions. The mosque is noted for having a rainbow minaret.

Architecture

The promenade around the three domed prayer chamber, since there was no separate structure for study purpose, might have been used for open-air classes and the vaulted room with book-shelves on their walls underneath the platform may have been designed to provide residential accommodation for those who used to teach and study here. In that context ''Chawk Mosque'' may be regarded as the first known example of Residential

Madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

Mosque. It is an ingenious way of accommodating two structures-a madrasa and a mosque in a single building which not only saved space but also a considerable amount of money. The construction has been dated from 1664 CE, as noted by an inscription in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

over a doorway. The inscription attributes the project to Subahdar

. So far known this is the earliest dated mosque in the History of Muslim Architecture in Bengal built on a high vaulted platform. Its architectural design was perhaps influenced by ''

Tughlaq The Tughlaq dynasty (also known as the Tughluq or Tughluk dynasty; ) was the third dynasty to rule over the Delhi Sultanate in medieval India. Its reign started in 1320 in Delhi when Ghazi Malik assumed the throne under the title of Ghiyath ...

Architecture''s; such as Khirki Masjid or

Kalan Mosque Kalan Mosque () is an architectural monument located in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. It was considered one of the largest mosques built on the place of Jame' Mosque. Its current appearance was built in 1514 during the reign of Shaybani Ubaidullah Khan of ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. Influenced by this structure some other mosques were built in

and

Murshidabad Murshidabad (), is a town in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. This town is the headquarters of Lalbag subdivision of Murshidabad district. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hooghly river, Bhagirathi Riv ...

. It has been suggested that Shaista Khan himself had composed the versified inscription, as his poetic nom de plume was "Talib". The inscription reads:*Karim, Abdul. (1992) Corpus of the Arabic and Persian Inscriptions of Bengal. Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (page 469).

Gallery

Central Mihrab of the Chawkbazar Shahi Mosque.jpg, The central ''

Mihrab ''Mihrab'' (, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "''qibla'' wall". ...

'' The three domes of the Chawkbazar Shahi Mosque.jpg, The three domes চকবাজার শাহী মসজিদ 001.jpg, The interior of the mosque in May 2019 Bibi Mariam Cannon.jpg, The mosque (on the upper-left), photographed by Johnston and Hoffmann in 1885 Persian Inscription inside the Chawk Bajar Shahi Mosque.jpg, The inscription

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20131121010239/http://www.dhakacalling.com/archive/2009/oct/cover_story.php * https://web.archive.org/web/20161220174321/http://www.kaladarshana.com/essays/essay-tughlak.html {{Mosques in Bangladesh 17th-century mosques in Bangladesh Mosque buildings with domes in Bangladesh Mosque buildings with minarets in Bangladesh Mosques completed in the 1670s Mosques in Dhaka Mughal mosques Old Dhaka Religious buildings and structures completed in 1676

History

Architecture

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links