Eklakhi Mausoleum is a

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

located at

Pandua Pandua may refer to: * Pandu (actor) (1947–2021), a Tamil film actor * Pandua (community development block), Hooghly District, West Bengal * Pandua (Vidhan Sabha constituency), Hooghly District, West Bengal * Pandua, Malda, now known as Adina, ru ...

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 ...

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 ...

, India. It was built around 1425. It houses three tombs, possibly belonging to Sultan

Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah (; born as Jadu/যদু) was a 15th-century Sultan of Bengal and an important figure in medieval Bengali history. Born a Hindu to his aristocratic father Raja Ganesha, the patriarch of the Ganesha dynasty, he assumed t ...

, his wife, and son

Shamsuddin Ahmad Shah Shamsuddīn Aḥmad Shāh (, ; 1433–1436) was the last Sultan of Bengal belonging to the House of Ganesha. He was the son and successor of Sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah. After his father's death, he ascended the throne at the age of 14. Ear ...

, but the identification is disputed. The structure represents a village hut with a sloping roof and serves as a prototype for the various other buildings constructed during 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- ...

History

The mausoleum was built in the early 15th century (). It houses three tombs. One tomb is believed to be that of Sultan

, the other two of his wife and son

. The orientation and the identification of these tombs is disputed. Jalaluddin was a son of

Raja Ganesha Raja Ganesha was a zamindar ruler and the first Hindu Sultan of the Bengal Sultanate, who took advantage of the weakness of the first Ilyas Shahi dynasty and seized power in Bengal. Contemporary historians of the medieval period considered him ...

and had later converted to Islam. He was one of the first

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

Muslim king of Bengal. Although during his reign

Sonargaon Sonargaon (; ; Literary translation, lit. ''Golden Hamlet (place), Hamlet'') is a historic city in central Bangladesh. It corresponds to the Sonargaon Upazila of Narayanganj District in Dhaka Division. Sonargaon is one of the old capitals of ...

was the

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...

capital of the

sultanate Sultan (; ', ) is a Royal and noble ranks, position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". La ...

, Jalauddin Muhammad Shah frequently ruled from Pandua and eventually believed to have died there, making him the last Sultan of Bengal to rule from

. According to tradition, the construction of the mausoleum cost one lakh rupees (). The mausoleum received its name "Eklakhi" () from this amount. The mausoleum is an ASI listed monument.

Architecture

The mausoleum is the earliest surviving square-shaped building with a single dome in Bengal. The brick structure has thick walls and an octagon-shaped interior, which together minimize the size of

squinch In architecture, a squinch is a structural element used to support the base of a circular or octagonal dome that surmounts a square-plan chamber. Squinches are placed to diagonally span each of the upper internal corners ( vertices) where the w ...

es required. The mausoleum has a smoothly curved

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

ornamentation on the walls, and engaged towers at the corners. The cornice supports the hemispherical dome on square squinches. The mausoleum is wide and in height. The diameter of the dome is . A doorway is present at each of its facades. Each doorway has a pointed arch. The interior chamber measures and has no window. Historian Perween Hasan writes that the architecture may have been inspired by the brick temples in pre-Islamic Bengal. As Jalaluddin was the first native Muslim king of Bengal, he may have built the mausoleum in typical Bengali style, highlighting his roots. The mausoleum's structure represents a

thatched Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge ('' Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

hut with a sloping roof forming

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...

. It is the earliest example of the distinctive Bengali architecture which was popularised during the period of the

and later.

Gallery

File:Eklakhi Mausoleum at Pandua in Malda district 11.jpg, Terracotta carvings on the walls File:Eklakhi Mausoleum at Pandua in Malda district 04.jpg, Defaced & vandalised pre-Islamic motifs taken from demolished Hindu & Buddhist structures incorporated into the building File:Eklakhi Mausoleum at Pandua in Malda district 10.jpg, Carvings File:Eklakhi Mausoleum at Pandua in Malda district 14.jpg, Decorated gate and walls

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eklakhi Mausoleum Monuments of National Importance in West Bengal Architecture of the Bengal Sultanate Mausoleums in India Architecture in Bangladesh Tombs in India Buildings and structures completed in the 15th century Tourist attractions in Malda district