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Adina Mosque

Coordinates: 25°09′08″N 88°09′53″E / 25.1523°N 88.1647°E / 25.1523; 88.1647
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Adina Mosque
Exterior façade of the mosque
Religion
AffiliationSunni Islam (former)
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusMosque (former)
Status
  • Abandoned; Preserved
Location
LocationPandua, Malda, West Bengal
CountryIndia
Adina Mosque is located in West Bengal
Adina Mosque
Location in West Bengal
Geographic coordinates25°09′08″N 88°09′53″E / 25.1523°N 88.1647°E / 25.1523; 88.1647
Architecture
TypeMosque architecture
StyleIslamic
Groundbreaking1373
Completed1375
Specifications
Dome387
MaterialsBrick and stone
Official nameAdina Mosque
Reference no.N-WB-81
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The Adina Mosque (Bengali: আদিনা মসজিদ) is a historical mosque in Malda District, West Bengal, India.[2] It was the largest structure of its kind in the Indian subcontinent and was built during the Bengal Sultanate as a royal mosque by Sikandar Shah, who is also buried inside. The mosque is situated in Pandua, a former royal capital.

The vast architecture resembles the hypostyle of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, a style that was used during the introduction of Islam in new areas.[3] The early Bengal Sultanate harbored imperial ambitions after having defeated the Delhi Sultanate twice in 1353 and 1359. The Adina Mosque was commissioned in 1373.

Completed in 1375, it was the largest mosque in the entire Indian subcontinent at the time.[4][5] The site is a Monument of National Importance.[1]

Etymology

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The name Adina is generally understood to mean Friday, linking the mosque to the weekly congregational prayer. Similar names appear elsewhere, such as the Adina Mosque in Patan, Gujarat, the Satgachiya Mosque in Jhenidah, and the Bara Azina site in Bagerhat, where Azina possibly representing a local corruption of Adina.[2]

Design

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The design of the mosque incorporated Bengali, Arab, Persian and Byzantine architecture. It was built with rubble masonry that was covered with brick, stone, coatings of stucco, plaster, concrete, glazing or lime smoothing.[6] Stone flowers were integrated into the arches of the interior and exterior all around the building.[7] It was constructed from stones of dismantled Hindu temples and incorporates motifs inspired by pre-Islamic Hindu and Buddhist structures.[6][8] Some exterior wall sections retain carvings, such as elephants and dancing figures, reflecting this reuse.[2]

The mosque had a rectangular hypostyle structure with an open courtyard. There were several hundred domes. The structure measured 172 by 97 metres (564 by 318 ft). The entire western wall evokes the imperial style of pre-Islamic Sasanian 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 Sasanian style. The mosque consciously imitated Persianate imperial grandeur.[9] 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 pillars 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.[6] 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.[7][10]

Adina terracottas

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Adina Mosque Lotus decoration in Basalt

The terracotta ornamentation of the Adina Mosque reflects a fusion of Islamic motifs with designs derived from Buddhist and Hindu sculptures of the Pāla–Sena era, many of which show stylistic similarities to contemporary Hindu temple architecture. Built between 1364 and 1374 CE during the Bengal Sultanate, the mosque is regarded as the first Islamic monument in Bengal to incorporate terracotta decoration. Constructed mainly of baked clay bricks set in lime and brick-dust mortar, it combined Central Asian architectural features with local artistic traditions. The decorative scheme includes rose petals, geometric patterns, hanging lamps and flute motifs, alongside Pāla–Sena elements such as the caitya window, rows of chains, cloth-and-bell designs and lotus petals.[11][12][13][14] A panel depicting a tall tree with spreading branches has been linked to the Buddhist Kalpataru. The central mihrab on the western wall, together with the mosque’s more than three hundred pillars, illustrates the integration of indigenous sculptural and architectural forms into the Indo-Islamic style of Bengal.[11][2]

Adina Mosque's tympanum decorated with terracotta

Certain motifs from earlier Hindu art were reinterpreted as new ornamental forms. The beaded necklace, which once contained images of divinities, was adapted into patterns of rosettes or lotuses, while the kirtimukha motif was transformed into stylised vegetal designs. The terracotta decoration of the mosque incorporated more local elements than any previous Islamic monument in Bengal, including representations of plants, fruits and flowers, as well as motifs such as the lotus, the beaded and tessellated necklace, tassels, multi-foil arches, and chain-and-pendant designs.[13][2]

Kirtimukha at Adina Mosque

The artistic tradition itself had pre-Islamic roots sculptors of imported stone, who produced Buddhist and Hindu icons, were historically regarded more highly than terracotta craftsmen.[11][12][13] With the arrival of Islam, which avoided figural stone imagery, terracotta became the primary medium for mosque decoration, elevating the status of terracotta artisans under Muslim patronage. Traces of coloured tiles and painted plaster remain visible on the building. In the nave, north of the central mihrab, survives a carved stone minbar (pulpit), approached by a staircase, which incorporates a kirtimukha motif in its decoration.[11][15][13]

History

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Medieval Bengal

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The mosque was built during the reign of Sikandar Shah, the second Sultan of the Ilyas Shahi dynasty of the Bengal Sultanate. The mosque was designed to display the kingdom's imperial ambitions after its two victories against the Delhi Sultanate in the 14th century.[5] 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).[9] Inscriptions on the mosque proclaimed Sikandar Shah as "the exalted Sultan" and the "Caliph of the faithful".[16] A legend also holds that Raja Ganesha later used the mosque as his royal court.[2][9] The Sultan was buried in a tomb chamber attached to the wall facing the direction of Mecca.[citation needed]

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.

Colonial India

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The mosque was damaged by earthquakes in the 19th century. It fell into disuse. Much of Pandua also became part of the wilderness.

Independent India

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Activists from Bharatiya Janata Party and Vishva Hindu Parishad have claimed that the mosque was built by demolishing an "Adinath Temple", and hence must be restored to the Hindus.[17]

Inscription

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Sultan Sikandar ordered the following words inscribed on its western facade of the mosque:

In the reign of the exalted Sultan, the wisest, the most just, the most liberal and most perfect of the Sultans of Arabia and Persia, who trust in the assistance of the Merciful Allah, Abul Mujahid Sikandar Shah the Sultan, son of Ilyas Shah, the Sultan. May his reign be perpetuated till the Day of Promise (Resurrection).[18]

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Panoramic view of Adina Masjid
  • The central mihrab of the mosque
    The central mihrab of the mosque
  • Arabic inscriptions on the stone walls inside the Adina Mosque
    Arabic inscriptions on the stone walls inside the Adina Mosque
  • Arabic inscriptions on the stone walls inside the Adina Mosque
    Arabic inscriptions on the stone walls inside the Adina Mosque
  • Arches and columns in the interior of Adina Mosque. The elevated platform was the royal gallery where the Sultan prayed.
    Arches and columns in the interior of Adina Mosque. The elevated platform was the royal gallery where the Sultan prayed.
  • Central prayer hall in the mosque
    Central prayer hall in the mosque
  • Tomb of Sultan Sikandar Shah
    Tomb of Sultan Sikandar Shah
  • Detailed arabesque
    Detailed arabesque
  • Corner of the building
    Corner of the building
  • A column and an Arabic inscription from Adina Mosque, now in the British Museum
    A column and an Arabic inscription from Adina Mosque, now in the British Museum
  • Dancing figures carved on the walls of the Adina Mosque
    Dancing figures carved on the walls of the Adina Mosque

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "List of Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains of National Importance". West Bengal. Archaeological Survey of India. Archived from the original on 23 June 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Alamgir, Khoundkar (25 May 2015). "Adina mosque at Hazrat Pandua: the Only Standard Type of Congregational Mosques in Sultanate Bengal". Journal of Bengal Art. 19.
  3. ^ Hasan, Perween (15 August 2007). Sultans and Mosques: The Early Muslim Architecture of Bangladesh. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 9781845113810 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ "A Journey through India's Major Shrines and Controversies". Outlook India. 31 January 2024. Retrieved 21 May 2025.
  5. ^ a b Eaton, Richard Maxwell (1996). The Rise of Islam in the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760. University of California Press. pp. 40–50. ISBN 0520205073.
  6. ^ a b c Banerji, Naseem Ahmed (1993). The architecture and architectural decoration of the Adina Mosque, Pandua, West Bengal, India: The problem of the conjoined Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic motifs in the mihrab niches - ProQuest (Doctor of Philosophy in Art History thesis). ProQuest 304044113.
  7. ^ a b Banerji, Naseem Ahmed (1 January 2002). The Architecture of the Adina Mosque in Pandua, India: Medieval Tradition and Innovation. Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 9780773472099 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ "Mosque Architecture - Banglapedia". en.banglapedia.org.
  9. ^ a b c "BENGAL – Encyclopaedia Iranica". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
  10. ^ Datta, Rangan (13 October 2022). "Beauty in ruins: Tracing the history of Pandua's glorious past". The Telegraph. My Kolkata. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  11. ^ a b c d Sen Gupta, Sanjay (17 September 2025). "Terracotta-ornamentation on the Religious-Architectures of Bengal: Gradual Deconstruction of Cultural-units through the Expanse of Lokāyata". Journal of Bengal Art. 25: 8–9. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  12. ^ a b Indo-iranica. Iran Society. 1987. p. 117. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  13. ^ a b c d Khan, Muhammad Hafizullah (1988). Terracotta Ornamentation in Muslim Architecture of Bengal. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. pp. 102–103. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  14. ^ "Terracotta Art - Banglapedia". en.banglapedia.org. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  15. ^ "Adina Mosque". Banglapedia.
  16. ^ "Adina Mosque". Banglapedia.
  17. ^ "A Journey through India's Major Shrines and Controversies". Outlook India. 31 January 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  18. ^ Eaton 1993, p. 47.

Bibliography

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  • Media related to Adina Mosque at Wikimedia Commons
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