Maldah, Pt. 1 - Pandua, Series: Bengal before 'Calcutta'

nitishb
Apr 9, 2022
11 min read

Updated: Aug 7, 2022

' Monuments and archaeological pieces serve as testimonies of man's greatness and establish a dialogue between civilizations showing the extent to which human beings are linked.' - Vicente Fox

Reading history is a habit. Visiting historical sites is an addiction. Once you start submerging yourself into exploring history, soon you find out how tough if it - without a similarly invested travel partner. Alas, we all are individual creatures. Not always everyone's plans align. So for some travels you have to plan solo. As was my case for Goechala trek. This time however, I had a late addition in my one man group - Diptesh. In spite of familial obligation, he agreed to join me in Maldah for two days, the very next weekend from Holi in 2022. I made detailed planning and necessary booking, Diptesh joined me from Bandel Station and our small tour stated.

To stop myself from veering off the topic frequently, I am trying out this new way of writing

The Itinerary

18/03/2022, Friday: In Kolkata; travel ~350 KM by train.

~10:15 PM - train from Sealdah station, Gour Express (13153).

~11:40 PM - Diptesh boarded train in Bandel Junction (BDC).

19/03/2022, Saturday: In Maldah; travel ~35 KM by reserved car.

~06:20 AM - reached Maldah Town (MLDT) station.

~07:45 AM - stay @Maldah Town tourist lodge/Amrapali Lodge.

~09:40 AM - sightseeing trip to Pandua.

~12:30 PM - back to hotel.

~04:30 PM - walk about 5.75 KM to search for Nima Sarai.

~06:45 AM - back to hotel.

20/03/2022, Sunday: In Maldah; ~50 KM by reserved car.

~07:20 AM - sightseeing trip to Gour.

~01:00 PM - back to hotel.

~07:30 PM - walk about 2.5 KM to search for Pabna Sweets.

~09:35 PM - train from Maldah Town (MLDT) station, Gour Express (13154).

21/03/2022, Monday: In Kolkata; travel ~350 KM by train.

~02:30 AM - Diptesh gets down in Barddhaman Junction (BWN).

~05:20 AM - reached Sealdah station, back home.

The Background

Pandua in Maldah host the ruins of a former capital of Bengal. For a long ~114 years it served as the erstwhile capital of Bengal Sultanate.

What’s in the name ‘Pandua’?’

Pandua during different times in history had different adjective added to its name. Some of them are -

Hazrat Pandua, “Hazrat” specifying the several prominent Muslim saints and preachers who lived there. E.g. Jalaluddin Tabrizi and Nur Qutub Alam. I will discuss about them later.
Boro-Pendo (larger Pendo), to differentiate it from its namesake in the Hooghly district which is called Choto-Pendo.
A mythological claim - It speculates that the name Pandua is associated with the Pandav brothers of Mahabharat.
A faunal Refute - Sir Alexander Cunningham suggests that the name comes from Pandubis, or water fowls (Jolpakhi, Jolkukkut – they live near river only), which are common to the area.

The discovery of ages

Back in 1808, Scottish physician Francis Buchanan-Hamilton first noted the existence of historic ruins in Pandua. Then again in 1930, Sir Alexander Cunningham (British Army engineer, creator of early version of Archaeological Survey of India) did a detailed study of Pandua following an aerial survey.

Limelight on ‘Pandua’: from the pages of history

From the mid-14th to the mid-15th century, Pandua served as the capital of Bengal under the Ilyas Shahi Dynasty. A total of nine kings over ~114 years ruled Bengal from Pandua (8 from Ilyas Shashi, 1 from Ganesh dynasty). It continued as a mint town until the time of Sher Shah, aka Sher Shah Suri (coronation 1538). The contemporary written accounts of Pandua comes from a Chinese traveler viz. Ma Huan’s. He describes Bengal in the 15th century, referring a town called Pan-Ko-La, which historians say is actually Pandua. If this is to be believed, then he writes about Pandua remaining an important center of commerce until the middle of the 16th century.

Officially, Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah, founder of Bengal’s Ilyas Shahi Dynasty, moved his capital from Gour/Gauda to Pandua in 1339. But, another speculative version from the coin’s discovery from this time refer to Pandua as Firozabad. Hence, the move to Pandua may have been done by Shamsuddin Firoz Shah (1300-1322) of the Balban Dynasty.

Moving capital to Pandua was a strategic decision, it being on the banks of the Mahananda river. But Mahananda’s course changed and so, the capital was moved back to Gour in 1453 by Sultan Nasiruddin Muhammad Shah.

Timeline of ‘Pandua as a capital’ under the reigns of Sultans

** (‘1339-1453’ = 114 years)

*** Izz al-Din Yahya, Governor of the provincial Satgaon, 1328-1338.

**** His understudy and later successor - Haji Ilyas/Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah, 1338-1352

Set Up: Pre-Ilyas Shahi dynasty

1338, Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah declared himself Sultan of Satgaon.

1339, he moved his capital to Pandua from Gour.

1342, he defeated Sultan Alauddin Ali Shah of Lakhnauti (north Bengal) in war.

1352, he defeated Sultan Ikhtiyaruddin Ghazi Shah of Sonargaon (east Bengal) in war.

Start of Ilyas Shahi dynasty

1352, Shamsuddin proclaimed the establishment of the Sultanate of Bengal through the unification of regions, declared himself Sultan of Bengal, independent of Delhi.

1352, he named this territory "Bangālah" or "Mulk-i-Bangālah", he took the title "Shāh-i-Bangālah”, the people of this region were formally given the name of "Bengali".

1358, his son Sikandar Shah succeeded him in throne.

1368/1373, he built Adina Masjid in Pandua and Kotwali Darwaza in Gour.

1390, Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah - one of Sikandar’s 18 sons revolted and occupied Sonargaon and Satgaon. At the war of succession viz. 'Battle of Goalpara' near Pandua, he was killed.

1390, Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah became Sultan of Bengal.

- - He established good relations with Ming Empire of China, Ma Huan visited during his

time.

- - Krittibas Ojha translated the Ramayan in Bengali as Krittivasi Ramayan during his reign.

1410, his son Saifuddin Hamza Shah became Sultan following his death.

1412, nationwide civil war instigated by Raja Ganesh, Saifuddin was murdered by his slave Mamluk Shihab.

- - Historian R. C. Mazumdar believes, Shihab was Saifuddin's son and did not kill him, rather

succeeded him after his assassination.

1413, Shihab ad-Din Bayazid Shah/Mamluk Shihab succeeded his father/master in throne.

Break in Ilyas Shahi dynasty: The Ganesh dynasty

1414, Shihab's son Alauddin Firuz Shah I became the puppet Sultan controlled by Raja Ganesh, the landlord of Dinajpur for a few months. Soon Ganesh defeated and killed him.

1415, Raja Ganesh/ Raja Kans or, Kansi officially became the ruler of Bengal.

1415, facing an imminent threat of invasion from the Sultan of Jaunpur Ibrahim Shah Sharqi, at the behest of Nur Qutb Alam, Ganesh appeased the saint by allowing his son Jadu (age 12 at that time) to convert to Islam as Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah and rule in his place.

1416, Nur Qutb Alam died, Raja Ganesh deposed his son and assumed the throne himself as Danujmardan Dev, Jalaluddin was reconverted to Hinduism by the Golden Cow ritual.

(in this bizarre ceremony he was symbolically reborn through the womb of a cow made of gold plates, which were then donated to the Brahmins of the city. Other orthodox Brahmins refused to accept this conversion. Hence, the boy was confined to the palace, till Ganesh died)

1418, Ganesh died, Jadu’s younger brother Mahendra Dev was made a puppet king. Jadu once again converted to Islam, overthrew his brother and started ruling his second phase.

Jadu/ Jalaluddin was disputably buried in Eklakhi Mausoleum in Pandua.

1433, Jalaluddin’s son, Shamsuddin Ahmad Shah became next Sultan at the age of 14.

1436, Ahmad Shah was killed by his nobles Sadi Khan and Nasir Khan, in an attempt to restore the Ilyas Shahi dynasty. He may have also been buried in Eklakhi Mausoleum.

End of Ganesh dynasty: Restoration of Ilyas Shahi dynasty

1437, Mahmud Shah I as, Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah restored the Ilyas Shahi dynasty and became Sultan of Bengal.

1453, he laid the foundations of the citadel and palace at Gour and moved the capital back to Gour due to the course change of river Mahananda.

- THIS WAS THE END FOR PADUA, as the capital city.

The TRIP

I have written below about the list of places we visited in Pandua as per the order of our visit.

Eklakhi Mausoleum

Address: 45Q3+GPF, Adina, West Bengal - 732128.
Relative location: 2 KM to the Southwest of Adina Masjid.
GPS location: 25°08'18.9"N 88°09'15.7"E
Completion: ~1425 (disputably: 1412-1415).
Closes at: 5 PM.

In some places, I saw it being mentioned as Eklakhi Mosque, which is incorrect. As a mosque would have had at least one Mihrab directing towards the location of Kaaba; rather in the center of the room are three large tombs. These disputably belong to Raja Ganesh’s son Jalaluddin (Jadu), his wife & child (Shamsuddin). Apparently one lakh rupees was spent in its construction. Hence, the name.

Originally it had enameled bricks, no traces of this are visible now. There is intricate terracotta work though, in its walls. The hanging lamp and flower motif is present here in the walls. The main entrance door is obviously from a temple. As, in the upper part of the door frame is a miniature throne with an idol of Ganesh (scraped off).

Qutub Shahi Masjid

Other names: Sona Masjid
Address: 45Q3+F93, Adina, West Bengal - 732128.
Relative location: On the western side of the Eklakhi Mausoleum.
GPS location: 25°08'18.9"N 88°09'11.8"E
Completion: 1582 (990 hijri).
Closed at: 4 PM.

Following a paved path leading through a village we reached the Qutub Shahi/Sona Masjid. There are three Sona Masjids in this area - Boro Sona Masjid of Gour, Choto Sona Masjid of Gour (now in Bangladesh) and this one. It is named after the Hazrat Noor Qutub-ul-Alam (buried in Pandua), built by his descendant Mohammed-al-Khalidi.

The mosque is built of brick and stone. The roof has collapsed; four stone pillars remains. Five Mihrabs in the western wall contain the hanging lamp motif. There is a smaller stone “Minbar”. Interestingly I didn't find any minarets (slender tower with balcony in mosque, from where calls for prayers are made) here.

Hazrat Noor Qutub-ul-Alam?

- A 14th-century Islamic scholar of the Bengal Sultanate. He pioneered the Dobhashi tradition (word from both Persian and native vocabulary) of Bengali literature.

Adina Masjid

Address: Pandua Road, Pandua, West Bengal - 732102.
GPS location: 25°09'08.6"N 88°09'52.1"E
Groundbreaking: 1373.
Completion: 1375.
Reign: Sultan Sikandar Shah.
Closed at: 7 PM.

It is a colossal mosque, which was the largest mosque in Indian subcontinent during its early years. In its current ruined state, it is still the largest mosque in Bengal. Adina has rectangular, open courtyard surrounded by pillared halls in all four sides. Most of the structures in East, North & South have collapsed. Originally there were more than 300 domes. What is currently left is the intact western section. An adequate grand entrance gateway, if ever was there is currently no more. We entered through a small doorway in the western wall.

Following entry, we were at a large pillared hall. There were pillars made up with stones holding up huge brick arches. On our left, was a wooden staircase, a route to reach a small upper level. This may have been a ladies’ gallery. Three large Mihrabs (niche in a mosque’s wall) in this ladies’ section are present in the western wall. Mihrabs as I discussed in my Murshidabad blogs too, indicates the direction of the Kaaba, that Muslims must face while performing Namaz. These Mihrabs are made of smooth black stone and contain intricately carved patterns (one of them even includes the swastika symbol).

On the right of the Mihrabs, we found a door leading to an open terrace. There are bases of four pillars and right at the center the tomb of Sikandar Shah (behind the ladies’ gallery).

The ladies gallery has 18 pillars in total, each about 6 feet high or more. Now we moved to the south of the entrance gate and found an impressive nave (like the central part of a church) and enormous central Mihrab.

This sort of nave is unique. As, they are common in churches but not in mosques except those created in this time period. We found a similar nave in Gunamant Masjid in Gour too. From Wikipedia, I found the measure of this nave as 64 ft. X 33 ft. I guess it had a roof (collapsed now). The central Mihrab is about 2 story high, on its right is a raised pulpit (enclosed platform). A pulpit is used by the Imam (or, preacher in case of churches) to seat during Namaz. In Islamic tradition such pulpits are called “Minbar”. Beyond the nave (south) and ladies’ gallery (north), are long prayer halls. All halls are divided in 5 aisles by now collapsed stone pillars. Same is the fate for the roof and domes. Some domes above the northern hall still remain. Looking carefully at the Mihrabs in the northern part, we found figures of dancing girls. Such figures' presence is unimaginable in a mosque.

We saw some terracotta decorations in Adina too, on the wall above the western entrance. This mosque is built using a combination of brick and stone. Among other decorations are a unique hanging lamp and flower motif, this particular motif is an adaptation of Hindu and Buddhist art.

A probable temple connection?

- The presence of several masjid non-Islamic figures on Adina Masjid's walls raise doubt. It is quite apparent that Adina was built using elements from previous, non-Islamic structures. Some elements are Hindu, some are Buddhist. A local legend says, the name Adina comes from the word “Adinath”, it was the site of a Hindu temple of Vishnu. So the Sultan may have ordered temples and stupas to be destroyed to raise Adina, or asked to use stones from temples that were already ruined. I couldn't find any reference to either of these claims.
When I looked closely at the faces carved in the stone on the outer side of the western wall (while entering the mosque through ASI’s entrance), they, along with a repeating pattern of garlands, seemed more like something from Buddhist architecture. We found figures of Ganesh, a female figure in a dancing pose (maybe Saraswati). 
Most door frames in Adina Masjid seemed originally from temples. Gateways of Islamic structures are generally arched but, pre-Islamic Hindu temples contain non-arched, straight doorways. Also some doorways in Adina have miniature thrones, which may have been containing Hindu deities at some point.

Salami Darwaza

Address?
GPS location: 25°08'06.5"N 88°09'06.4"E
Completion?
Reign?

The Salami (salute) Darwaza (gate), was the gateway to the Dargah of Sheikh Shah Jalaluddin Tabrizi or, the Badi Dargah. The original gateway (probably in a different architectural style) is now reconstructed in the Bangla “do-chala” style by the caretakers of the Dargah. On its western side is a raised platform.

Sheikh Shah Jalaluddin Tabrizi?

- A Sufi saint, who came to Bengal (reign of Lakshman Sen) from Delhi (reign of Iltutmish, 1210). He was born in Tabriz, in northwestern Iran. He predicted the Turkic invasion to Lakshman Sen following which Sen escaped before it began. I wrote about this in Murshidabad blogs.

Badi (larger) Dargah

Address?
Completion: 1342.
Reign: Sultan Alauddin Ali Shah.

Tabrizi's Dargah is believed to have been constructed individually and various other buildings have been added to it over time. His grave cannot be located now. The Dargah currently has Jami Masjid, a bhandarkhana (store room), Lakshman Seni Dalan (small room to entertain visitors) and a tandoorkhana (kitchen) left standing.

Choti (smaller) Dargah

Address?
Relative location: 1 KM further east from Badi Dargah, on the Pandua road which leads to NH 34.
Completion: 1427.
Reign?

It is the Dargah of Hazrat Noor Qutub-ul-Alam, built 12 years after his death. Many religious figures and some soldiers who were followers of Hazrat Noor are buried here.

Dargah Vs Masjid vs Mazar Vs Imambara?

 - - Dargah is a shrine or, tomb built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint. Sufis visit such shrines for Ziyarat (pilgrimages). Dargah often have Sufi eating and meeting rooms and hostels, called Khanqah (hospices).
- - Mosque/ Masjid is a place of worship for Muslims. Any act of worship that follows the Islamic rules of prayer can be said to create a mosque, whether or not it takes place in a special building. 
- - Mazar/ Darīh is a mausoleum (housing a tomb or group of tombs) or, shrine in some places of the world, typically that of a saint or notable religious leader. 
- - Imambara is a unique edifice used by Shia Muslims for the purpose of religious gatherings during the month of Muharram, celebrating the festival of ritualized mourning for the third imam and Muhammad’s grandson Hussain who was martyred in the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD.

Nimasarai Minar

Address: Nima Sarai, West Bengal - 732143.
GPS location: 25°0395287' N 88°1310738' E
Established on: ~(1556-1605).
Reign: Some vessel of emperor Akbar in Bengal.

During the peak of days of Gour-Pandua, the to-and-fro journey of ~50 km was challenging due to the road conditions, dacoits and available vehicles. The road connecting these two historical cities had an inn in between, i.e. Nimasarai. It was supposedly build on behest of Akbar. The top section of the tower collapsed on 2012 due to a lighting strike and the elephant tusks have long been replaced with wooden spikes. Each storey of this Minar is marked by a projecting cornice and tower has a slightly tapering shape. The Minar stands on an octagonal base. A spiral staircase inside the Minar leads up to the top. Although we found the entry closed. There are shafts allowing the wind and light to come in.

'Nimasarai' comes from the Persian phrase 'Nim-a Sarai'. 'Nim' means half, 'Sarai' translates to inn. It was an inn with a tower (Minar), guiding travelers probably with night lanterns too.

It is said, once the outer surface wall had elephant tusks decorations - either as ornament or, to hang the heads of executed criminals as a sign of warning.

According, researcher Kamal Basak the Minar is only third of its kind in the world. Among the other two, one named Hiran Minar is in Fatehpur Sikri built by Akbar and another is in Shikarpur (Sheikhupur) of Pakistan built by Jahangir or, Dara Sukoh (eldest son of Shahjahan).