Bagha Mosque

Location

Bagha Mosque situated at Bagha, about 25 miles southeast of Rajshahi town, survives in a fairly good state of preservation. The mosque was built on the western bank of a fairly large tank within a brick-walled compound, 48.77m square. It is very famous to all. Everyday many visitor come here.

Architecture

According to an inscription on the mosque’s central entrance, bagha Mosque was Built by Sultan Nusrat Shah in 1523 A.D. Bagha Mosque is a richly decorated monument originally roofed over with 10 domes which collapsed long ago. It is built of bricks with stone plinth, lintels and pillars.But recently this Mosque rebuilt carefully to their original form.The inscription is now preserved in Karachi, Pakistan.

 

Decoration & Construction

The boundary wall with two entrances and the evidence of the ruler gallery shows that the brick-built mosque, now a protected monument of the Department of Archaeology, is an oblong structure measuring externally about 26.35m by 12.86m.The prayer hall is divided into five aisles and two longitudinal bays by a row of four freestanding black basalt pillars. The shafts of those pillars are monolithic like the conventional stone pillars in Gaur whereas the capital and the base are also from two different pieces of stones. The external brick wall is 2.23-meter thick and has two stone layers. One stone layer is placed at the plinth level and the other at the lintel level. The prayer hall can be accessed from the east by five identical arched openings, and the side walls contain two openings sealed at present.Stone pillars divide the prayer hall into two aisles and five bays. And there seems to have been a women's gallery in the northwestern corner of the mosque. A stone lintel proves the existence of perforated bricks in the side openings for ventilation and lighting. The kibla wall contains four richly ornate mihrab (niches) and three southern aisles have one mihrab each. The fourth aisle has no mihrab. It is believed to be used as a mimbar. The fifth or the northernmost aisle has a small mihrab placed at the upper level. This small mihrab proves that there was a raised gallery covering the northwestern part of the prayer hall. Similar to the gallery of Kushumba Mosque in Rajshahi, this raised gallery was probably accessed from the interior of the hall, while the adjacent side in the northern wall has no entrance at the gallery level.The four exterior angles of the building are emphasised with octagonal towers, divided into sections by moulded bands and topped over with polygonal solid cupolas. The cornice of the building is gently curved in the Bengali fashion.There are five arched openings in the east and two on either of the south and north sides. Inside the mosque there are three mihrabs at the western end of the three southern bays, a panelled design in the fourth and a smaller mihrab in the raised gallery in the northwestern corner. The interior of the mosque is divided into two longitudinal aisles and five bays by a row of four stone pillars. The mosque has therefore ten independent square divisions, each being covered by an inverted cup-shaped dome. The Department of Archaeology has reconstructed the present domed roof, as the original roof had collapsed in the earthquake of 1897. The domes are carried on intersecting arches springing from stone pillars and engaged stone pilasters. It is important to note that the stone blocks in the form of a lintel at the springing point of the doorway arches run all round the building, which gives the mosque a two-storied appearance from outside.

 

Terracotta

The mosque is noteworthy for its exquisite terracotta ornamentation. Although much of the ornamentation has already disappeared, quite a bit still exists both in the interior and exterior of the building. All the archways and mihrabs are set within decorated rectangular frames, while the spaces around the mihrabs and archways are enriched with highly ornate rectangular panels, one above the other. One such panel in the eastern facade is encircled by a frame of tendrils and contains an exuberant engrailed and floreate arch. From the apex of this arch hangs a conventionalised chain motif, which ultimately evolves into a fantastic grape-cluster.The mihrabs consist of deep recesses and are faced with beautiful engrailed arches carried on decorated faceted pillars. The deep recesses are divided by raised mouldings into rows of rectangular small panels, each embellished with cusped arches containing varieties of designs. The spandrels of the mihrab arches are enriched with flower vases, out of which rise vine-like scrolls and leaves intertwining boldly projected rosettes. The whole composition is enclosed within a rectangular frame filled with a series of decorated rectangular panels. A window grill of the building is marked with a fine design of intersecting circles and diagonals. The faceted corner towers are also enriched with varieties of terracotta designs.

Historical importance

Bagha Mosque has an impact on us.It is interesting to note that the additional prayer chamber created by means of a raised platform in the north-west corner within the building appears to have been an exclusive gallery for the governor who ruled the area as a nominee of the reigning sultan. This sort of special prayer chamber, noticed in some other Bengal mosques, appears to have been meant as a substitute of maqsura - a feature introduced in the mosque architecture of early Islam for the safety of the caliphs. This particular feature of the Bagha mosque has given it the status of a Jami mosque.

Recent Condition

Now Bagha mosque is used as a regular prayer hall. An earthquake in 1897 damaged all the domes and the eastern wall of the mosque. In 1978, the Department of Archaeology took up the initiative and restored the mosque.