The Adina Mosque is a former mosque in Malda District, West Bengal, India. It was the largest such structure in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, In ...

and was built during the

Bengal Sultanate The Sultanate of Bengal ( Middle Bengali: শাহী বাঙ্গালা ''Shahī Baṅgala'', Classical Persian: ''Saltanat-e-Bangālah'') was an empire based in Bengal for much of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. It was the domina ...

as a royal mosque by

Sikandar Shah Abul Mujāhid Sikandar Shāh ( bn, আবুল মুজাহিদ সিকান্দর শাহ, fa, ), commonly known as Sikandar Shah; was the second Sultan of Bengal and the Ilyas Shahi dynasty. He was the son of Shamsuddin Ilyas S ...

, who is also buried inside. The mosque is situated in Pandua, a former royal capital. The vast architecture is associated with the hypostyle of the

Umayyad Mosque The Umayyad Mosque ( ar, الجامع الأموي, al-Jāmiʿ al-Umawī), also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus ( ar, الجامع الدمشق, al-Jāmiʿ al-Damishq), located in the old city of Damascus, the capital of Syria, is one of the ...

, which was used during the introduction of Islam in new areas. The early Bengal Sultanate harbored imperial ambitions after having defeated the

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526).

twice in 1353 and 1359. The Adina Mosque was commissioned in 1373. Its construction reused extra materials from pre-Islamic Hindu and Buddhist structures. According to the

List of Monuments of National Importance in West Bengal This is a list of Monuments of National Importance (ASI) as officially recognized by and available through the website of the Archaeological Survey of India in the Indian state West Bengal.

(serial no. N-WB-81) Adina Mosque is an ASI listed monument.

Design

Adina Mosque central mihrab on large basalt wall

The design of the mosque incorporated

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

, Persian and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

architecture. Although the mosque is eye-catching from far because of its size, but because of the finely precise executed designed decoration makes it hard to see the characteristics it holds without standing in a good distance from it. It was built with rubble masonry that was covered with

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

, coatings of stucco, plaster, concrete, glazing or lime smoothing. Stone flowers were integrated into the arches of the interior and exterior all around the building. Its plan is similar to the Great Mosque of Damascus. It had a rectangular hypostyle structure with an open

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...

. There were several hundred

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

s. The structure measured 172 by 97 m. The entire western wall evokes the imperial style of pre-Islamic

Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

Persia. The mosque's most prominent feature is its monumental ribbed barrel vault over the central nave, the first such huge vault built in the subcontinent, and another feature shared in common with the Sassanian style. The mosque consciously imitated

Persianate A Persianate society is a society that is based on or strongly influenced by the Persian language, culture, literature, art and/or identity. The term "Persianate" is a neologism credited to Marshall Hodgson. In his 1974 book, ''The Venture of I ...

imperial grandeur. The prayer hall is five aisles deep, while the north, south and east cloisters around the courtyard consist of triple aisles. In total, these aisles had 260

pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

s and 387 domed bays. The interior of the courtyard is a continuous façade of 92 arches surmounted by a parapet, beyond which the domes of the bays can be seen. The ornament on the building is simple, but if you look closer you can see the intensity and disciple in the engravings that have been created on the walls and arches. The interior elevated platform, which was the gallery of the Sultan and his officials, still exists. The Sultan's tomb chamber is attached with the western wall.

History

Accounts of Pandua

The mosque was built during the reign of

, the second Sultan of the

Ilyas Shahi dynasty The Ilyas Shahi dynasty ( bn, ইলিয়াস শাহী খান্দান, fa, الیاس شاهی خاندان) was the first independent dynasty to set the foundations of the late medieval Sunni Muslim Sultanate of Bengal. Hailin ...

of the

. The mosque was designed to display the kingdom's imperial ambitions after its two victories against the

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526).

in the 14th century. Cut off from both north India and the Middle East in the late 8th/14th and early 9th/15th centuries, Muslim Bengali monarchs enthusiastically looked far to the west for cultural inspiration. Thus, for example, the inscription on the Ādīna Mosque describes Sultan Sekandar as “the exalted Sultan, the wisest, the most just, the most liberal and most perfect of the Sultans of Arabia and Persia (ʿArab o ʿAjam)” (S. Ahmed, p. 38). A few parts of the mosque's exterior wall have carvings like elephants and dancing figures. Inscriptions on the mosque proclaimed Sikandar Shah as "the exalted Sultan" and the "

Caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

of the faithful". The Sultan was buried in a tomb chamber attached to the wall facing the direction of

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow v ...

. The mosque was located in the historic city of Pandua, a former capital of the Bengal Sultanate. Pandua was a thriving and cosmopolitan trading center during the period of the sultanate.

Modern era

The mosque was damaged by

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

s in the 19th century. It fell into disuse. Much of Pandua also became part of the

wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

Gallery

File:Adina Mosque at Malda district of West Bengal 13.jpg, Arches and columns in the interior of Adina Mosque. The elevated platform was the royal gallery where the Sultan prayed. File:Adina Mosque at Malda district of West Bengal 07.jpg, Central prayer hall in the mosque File:Adina Mosque Malda (37).jpg, A Ganesha idol carving on the stone wall File:Wide view of tomb of Sikander Shah in Adina Mosque 01.jpg, Tomb of Sultan Sikandar Shah File:Adina Mosque Malda (25).jpg, Detailed

arabesque The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...

File:Adina Mosque through the peep hole.jpg, The building seen through a peep hole File:Adina Mosque, Malda, West Bengal 01.jpg, Corner of the building File:Adina Mosque, Malda, West Bengal 02.jpg, Arches inside the mosque File:Column from Adina Mosuqe.jpg, A column from Adina Mosque, now in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

References

{{reflist Mosques in West Bengal Monuments of National Importance in West Bengal Archaeological sites in West Bengal Maldah Former mosques in India Bengal Sultanate mosques Mosques completed in 1375

Adina ADINA is a commercial engineering simulation software program that is developed and distributed worldwide by ADINA R & D, Inc. The company was founded in 1986 by Dr. Klaus-Jürgen Bathe, and is headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, United S ...