The Tipu Sultan Mosque, officially known as the Tipu Sultan Shahi Mosque, also known locally as the Tipu Sultan Masjid, and formerly known as the Dhurrumtollah 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

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, in the 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 ...

, India. The mosque is named after Tipu Sultan, a famous ruler of

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

. Located at 185 Dharamtalla Street, the mosque is renowned for its architectural and cultural heritage relics.

Background

Tipu Sultan was the ruler of the

Kingdom of Mysore The Kingdom of Mysore was a geopolitical realm in southern India founded in around 1399 in the vicinity of the modern-day city of Mysore and prevailed until 1950. The territorial boundaries and the form of government transmuted substantially ...

and well known as a scholar and poet. The Tipu Sultan Mosque was built in Calcutta (now Kolkata) by his 11th son, Prince Gholam Mohammed. His youngest son built this mosque in memory of his father, far away from Mysore, in Calcutta, due to family history. Tipu Sultan was engaged in a series of wars with the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

, which had sought trade favours from the Sultan at first, and later tried to annex his Kingdom by military force. After the last war, with Tipu's death on the battlefield, and six years after Tipu's death, the entire family was exiled to Calcutta by the British Government. During that period, the capital of Mysore, Srirangapatnam, was captured by British Army. Gholam Mohammed was a child when arrived in Calcutta and developed into a man of varied qualities. He was involved in many public works and associated with a committee formed for maintenance of roadways and buildings.

Construction

The mosque was built in 1842 by Prince Ghulam Mohammed, the youngest son of Tipu Sultan. An identical mosque, the Tipu Sultan Masjid Tollygunge, was built earlier in 1835, also by Ghulam Mohammed. Ghulam Mohammed used his own money to purchase a land in the central area of Calcutta and built this mosque. The Ghulam Mohammed Wakf Estate manages both of the mosques. In early 1980's the Tipu Sultan Masjid was damaged due to the construction works of Kolkata Metro Railway in the Esplanade area. The move was regarded as a highly communal stand of the West Bengal State Government. The Tipu Sultan Shahi Masjid Protection and Welfare Committee was founded in the late 1980s by Seraj Mubarki, Mohammad Sharfuddin, to inform people about the damage caused to the mosque by the Kolkata Metro company. The committee negotiated with the Kolkata Metro authorities to repair the damage caused by the construction underneath the building. The authorities agreed to demolish the damaged part of the mosque and rebuild it. The committee continue to play an active role in the daily affairs of the mosque. Committee members raised 21,501 for the 2004 Tsunami victims as part of the Prime Minister's Tsunami fund. The committee went on a five-day hunger strike to seek the intervention of the central government when a Muslim dargah was ruined in Vadodara. The fast was later broken with an initiative by H.E. Honorable Governor Shri. Gopal Krishna Gandhi who offered glass of juice to the fasters and later condemned attacks on

Hindu temple A Hindu temple, also known as Mandir, Devasthanam, Pura, or Kovil, is a sacred place where Hindus worship and show their devotion to Hindu deities, deities through worship, sacrifice, and prayers. It is considered the house of the god to who ...

s in Pakistan and the attacks on Christian missionaries in Orissa and other parts of India.

Leadership

The mosque's

Imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

Noor ur Rahmaan Barkati was implicated by the police in May 2017 after he refused to remove an illegal red beacon from his vehicle.

Gallery

Dhurrumtollah Mosque, Calcutta by Francis Frith.jpg, Dhurrumtollah Mosque at Calcutta, by Francis Frith Kolkata Tipu Sultan's Mosque3.jpg, The mosque in 2007 Tipu Sultan Mosque in Dharamtalla Street, Kolkata, West Bengal.jpg, Traffic near the mosque in 2022

References

External links

* {{Authority control 19th-century mosques in India