In mid-15th century, a
Muslim colony was founded in the inhospitable mangrove forest of the Sundarbans
near the seacoast in the Bagerhat district by an obscure saint-General, named
Ulugh Khan Jahan. He was the earliest torch bearer of Islam in the South who
laid the nucleus of an affluent city during the reign of Sultan Nasiruddin
Mahmud Shah (1442-59), then known as 'Khalifalabad' (present Bagerhat). Khan
Jahan aborned his city with numerous mosques, tanks, roads and other public
buildings, the spectacular ruins of which are focused around the most imposing
and largest multidomed mosques in Bangladesh, known as the Shait-Gumbad Masjid
(160'X108'). The stately fabric of the monument, serene and imposing, stands on
the eastern bank of an unusually vast sweet-water tank, clustered around by the
heavy foliage of a low-laying countryside, characteristic of a sea-coast
landscape. So in the year 1459 the great Azam Ulugh Khan Jahan established this
mosque, which called Shat Gambuj Mosjid. In Bengali Shat means the number 60.
Though it is called Shat Gambuj Mosjid, actually the numbers of Gamboj in the
mosque are 81. The mosque roofed over with 77 squat domes, including 7
chauchala or four-sided pitched Bengali domes in the middle row. The vast
prayer hall, although provided with 11 arched doorways on east and 7 each on
north and south for ventilation and light, presents a dark and somber
appearance inside. It is divided into 7 longitudinal aisles and 11 deep bays by
a forest of slender stone columns, from which springs rows of endless arches,
supporting the domes. Six feet thick, slightly tapering walls and hollow and
round, almost detached corner towers, resembling the bastions of fortress, each
capped by small rounded cupolas, recall the Tughlaq architecture of Delhi.The
general appearance of this noble monument with its stark simplicity but massive
character reflects the strength and simplicity of the builder. This mosque is
160 ft long and 108 ft. in its width. This is one of the most beautiful
archeological and historical Mosque in Bangladesh made by red burn mud. The
archeological beauty of this Mosque enchants the tourist till now. Besides this
Mosque an archeological museum is there where you can find that times
archeological and historical materials.
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