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salixj · 4 years

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(December 21, 2020 / JNS) It’s one of the few rap videos around that features a lead singer in frockcoat, tallis and shtreimel—paired with a cascade of gold chains (one bearing a Magen David) and leopard-skin scarf—dancing with guys from the ‘hood facing off against others in Chassidic garb.

As such, “Mothaland Bounce,” where our hero proudly calls himself “Hitler’s worst nightmare,” reveals much about the man behind it and what it means to be a passionate and deeply committed Jew of color.

Because for Nissim Black—successful rapper, father of six and Orthodox Jew—the video makes a strong statement about how Jews of color merge their very disparate identities into a (nearly) seamless whole.

(Fans may want to check out Black’s newest rap video “Hava”—a thoroughly Nissim spin on the traditional “Hava Nagila”—its release timed for the first night of Hanukkah).

Black is perhaps the most famous of today’s Jews of color. (Readers of a certain age will recall when singer Sammy Davis Jr. could claim that honor).

Though the term itself has gained traction in the last decade, there have always been Jews of different races. Scan the globe today, and you’ll find Ethiopian Jews and the African Lemba tribe whose men test positive for the Kohen gene, a marker of the Jewish priests.

What’s more, many Sephardic, Cuban, Mexican and Yemenite Jews consider themselves Jews of color. Not to mention the murky waters surrounding pockets of the Black Hebrews found in Israel (largely in Dimona and Arad in the Negev Desert) and around the Diaspora, many of whom claim descent from the ancient Israelites.

The numbers are equally murky. Estimates range from 6 percent to 12 percent—or even as much as 15 percent—of today’s Jewish population being Jews of color. But there is little in the way of standardized definition of who is a Jew; some studies count all the members of a household as Jewish household when only one member actually is. But when researchers Arnold Dashefsky and Ira M. Sheskin held the disparate estimates of Jews of color up to the light of demographic standards earlier this year, they concluded that the percentage of Jews of color “is almost certainly closer to 6 percent nationally [from the 2013 Pew study] than 12 to 15 percent. And this percentage has not increased significantly since 1990, although it is likely to do so in the future.”

It stands to reason that this year of painful racial tensions across North America could trigger an internal debate in African-American Jews, especially those who came to the faith not through birth or adoption, but who, like Black, embraced Judaism as adults.

And embrace it many of them do—with passion, perseverance and a deep appreciation—often overcoming raised eyebrows, insensitivity and even downright racism in the process. With a surprising number of them finding their spiritual home in Orthodox Judaism.

Nissim Black

Damian Jamohl Black, whom the world knows now as rapper Nissim Black, was born into a family of Seattle drug dealers in 1986. His childhood was pockmarked by FBI raids on his home, his dad was taken away in handcuffs, and he was accustomed to assorted incidents of street violence and crime. By 9, he was smoking marijuana, and plants were growing in his room. By 12, he’d joined the family business.

The only faith Black was exposed to back then was his grandfather’s Islam. His first religious service? A mosque, which he attended until his grandfather went to prison.

But at 13, Black was pulled into Christianity by missionaries. He now says it was the best thing that could have happened to him. “This was the first time I was around people who had normal healthy relationships. No one sold drugs, they had a heart for kids from the inner city, and their summer camp was the most fun I’d had in my life,” he recalls. “Becoming religious saved me from the world of street gangs.”

By high school, he was “the poster child of the missionary center.” That’s when he met the woman who would become his wife. As a Seventh-Day Adventist, Jamie (now Adina) went to church on Saturdays. They wed in 2008 but remarried in an Orthodox ceremony after their conversion five years later.

By 19, Black was making rap music professionally, and his mother died of an overdose. But by 20, Christianity was beginning to feel foreign to him, and he began wondering what the Jews walking in his neighborhood on Saturday mornings were up to. “I went to Rabbi Google and found Chabad.org. And it all began to make sense,” he says. “I told my wife [they were newlyweds] that I didn’t want to celebrate Christmas and Easter anymore. Pretty soon, she was doing her own digging into Judaism.”

The couple’s conversion followed in 2013 and aliyah to Israel three years later. The Blacks now make their home in Ramat Beit Shemesh with their six children, ages 1 to 12. “I wanted my kids to grow up here,” he says, “where they’d see Jews of different shades all praying the same prayers.”

“I’ve checked every box, right?” he says with a laugh. “One rabbi at my yeshivah told me, ‘You have a lot of strikes against you: You’re black, you’re a convert and you’re a Breslov Chassid. And in all these things is your greatness.”

Maayan Zik

Maayan Zik was 13 when her soul woke her up. Growing up in Washington, D.C., with her mom and sister—her parents divorced when she was in first grade, and she didn’t see her dad for another 10 years—she attended Catholic schools and was close with her maternal grandparents, Jamaican immigrants who took her to museums and taught her the value of hard work and education.

Accompanying her Jamaican-born grandmother to church every Sunday, by 13, Zik had “begun to wonder if what my family believes is right for me.” She explored a number of world religions, but when she saw a photo of her light-skinned Jamaican great-grandmother Lilla Abrams, whom family lore says was Jewish, “I realized I had to go way back to find out who I am.”

When she moved to an apartment in 2005 in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., she noticed the previous tenant had a left up a poster of a white-bearded man. “I said to myself, ‘I’m going to find out who you are.’ The man turned out to be the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Two years later, after courses and a summer seminary program, she converted. Thirteen years later, now 36, Zik remains there—with her Israeli-born husband and four children. “This somewhat awkward coexistence that lives inside me” fades into the background when she begins to pray, she says. “Having a personal conversation with God as part of the Jewish people, it’s who I’ve always been; I just didn’t know it.”

Mordechai Ben Avraham

Black and Mordechai Ben Avraham are both African-Americans from the West Coast (Seattle and Los Angeles, respectively), and both found Judaism in their 20s. But their early environment could hardly have been more different.

Growing up in an affluent neighborhood with a successful businessman father and a professor mother, “my focus was on how someday I could make more money than my dad.”

Ben Avraham’s spiritual journey took him from Sufism to the Kabbalah until at 22 he experienced Shabbat in a Carlebach-style minyan. “It was like I was floating in outer space. This is what Jews do? This is amazing! The Torah, the prayers, this beautiful spiritual system God gave to the Jews for people to transform themselves—they literally grabbed my heart.” His conversion was complete in 2013 with his move to Israel three years later.

Now 39, the former TV producer is living in the heart of Jerusalem’s religious Mea Shearim neighborhood, working towards his rabbinical degree and publishing a book on the joys of Torah as a black Jew.

But why would anyone who’s already making a huge leap religiously and culturally choose to embrace Orthodoxy with its full menu of mitzvot, accepting the Torah as Divine and committing to living within halachah (Jewish law)?

“If someone is going to make this big of a change completely based on their need to go beyond, there’s a very real tendency to go what many would consider ‘all the way,’ ” says Henry Abramson, dean of Brooklyn’s Touro College and author of The Kabbalah of Forgiveness: The Thirteen Levels of Mercy in Rabbi Moshe Cordovero’s Date Palm of Devorah (2014), among other titles.

A shared history

Much of this tendency to search spiritually can be traced to African-Americans’ religious experience in America, adds Abramson. “Since the 1960s, we’ve seen the phenomenon of questioning the Christianity foisted on their slave ancestors.”

And though Islam has attracted many of these disenfranchised souls—in part, he says, because the black Muslim culture permeated prisons beginning in the 1960s—Judaism offers another option.

Ben Avraham maintains that, in a spiritual sense, Judaism may feel familiar to those raised in the black church. “Like Judaism, gospel Christianity is an intense personal relationship with God without any intermediaries,” he says.

This is a connection Ben Avraham experiences every day of his life. “Living in Mea Shearim, in a fundamental way, I’m around people who are just like me. I just connect with my Chassidic neighbors.”

A growing fissure

But after the 1960s and ’70s, when Jews fought alongside blacks for civil rights in the United States and in South Africa, “there’s been a growing fissure between blacks and Jews,” says Rabbi Maury Kelman who, as director of Route 613, a New York City conversion program, has welcomed many students of different races into his classes.

And, with last summer’s rise in violence between the African-American community and the religious Jewish community, primarily in New York,” says Black, “lately, it’s gotten uglier.”

‘I cried all the way home’

Not everyone in the Jewish community rolls out the proverbial red carpet for someone of color.

After working up the courage to walk into synagogue on Shabbat, Zik couldn’t miss the two women glaring at her, eventually yelling at her to get out and threatening to call the police before giving chase.

“I cried all the way home, but my friends would not let me give up,” she says. “I also knew from everything I’d read about the Rebbe, with his emphasis on love and kindness, that eventually this would be the right place for me.”

“Unfortunately, like in all communities, you’ll find the occasional ignorant Jew or racist,” allows Kelman, who offers programs on the importance of accepting the convert.

A time of racial tensions

With this year’s heated racial debates and demonstrations following the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, where does that put Jews of color, with feet in both the African-American and Jewish worlds?

Zik, for one, helped lead a rally in Crown Heights this summer where black neighbors shared their experiences with racism. “It was a reminder,” she says, “that the Torah teaches us to protect the rights of all God’s children.”

And the learning goes both ways, she adds. “When black friends ask me if now that I’m Jewish, do I have money? I tell them about the Jews I know who struggle to pay for rent, food and their kids’ yeshivah tuitions. I tell them that, when I’ve had my babies, neighbors bring us meals and help furnish the nursery. People here always want to do another mitzvah.”

Ben Avraham also says he better appreciates African-American history because he is a Jew. “We can see our own story reflected in the Torah,” he says. “Our two peoples had so many struggles just to survive.”

Adds Black: “Just knowing there are black religious Jews can help the two communities see they aren’t completely separate after all—not to judge each other so quickly.”

Kelman agrees. “Black Jews can be a terrific bridge chiefly because they have credibility on both sides. It’s increasingly important to teach our fellow Jews that we’re a family that comes in different colors, that Judaism is colorblind,” he says. “Once they convert, they’re just as Jewish as any of us—and our diversity only strengthens us.”

‘Something bigger than myself’

By the end of “Mothaland Bounce,” the guys from the ’hood and the Chassids are dancing together with Black as ringmaster.

But it may be “A Million Years” that’s Black’s love letter to Judaism.

In this 2016 music video (with singer Yisroel Laub), Black takes a journey proudly carrying a Torah throughout Israel—archeological digs, mountain caves, a busy shuk (marketplace) and Jerusalem’s Old City—turning heads as he goes. (Don’t miss the moment when Black stops to let some haredi kids lovingly kiss the Torah), finally nestling it inside a synagogue’s ark.

“Since I was a kid, I was looking to be part of something bigger than myself,” says Black. “I prayed and prayed, and finally, I knew who I needed to be, a Jew, and where I needed to be, the Holy Land. It took time but now God’s answered my prayers. And one thing I know is that to God there is no such thing as color. He sees us for who we are inside.”

As he raps:

“I came from a distance Where everything was different … I called out to You And You showed me that You listened … I gave my all to You And You showed me who I am.”

#Israel #Jews of Color

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hyba · 4 years

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I have been a busy bee and haven’t had the chance to share this yet today, but it’s been up for about 11 hours now and I’m finally taking a break so I thought I’d let you all know! ^^

This one is all about architecture, and particularly the real-world influences of Belvatrian architecture (along with certain side tangents because I’m easily distracted).

Hope you enjoy! :D

#writeblr #podcasts #the fall of the black masks #amwriting #worldbuilding #architecture #i know some of you have already listened to it #so don't hesitate to let me know what you think about it ^^

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dnomadicarchitect · 6 years

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My next stop was the nearby Adina Mosque – the biggest mosque in the entire subcontinent and one of the first mosques in the region – now in ruins but thankfully well preserved.

– PIN IT FOR FUTURE –

See Adina Through My Lens

Sikandar Shah, the second Sultan of the Illiyas Shahi dynasty and one of the most prominent. Sikandar who ruled Bengal for over three decades brought peace and stability in the administration and thus prosperity among his subjects. Soon after Sikandar Shah assumed the throne (1358 CE) vacated by his father, Illiyas Shah, he was attacked by the Sultan of Delhi – Firoz Shah Tughlaq (1359 CE) but Sikandar’s army was able to keep the mighty sultanate army at bay and that gave him a lot of confidence. Sikandar declared himself to be the ‘the exalted Sultan, the wisest, the most just, the most liberal and most perfect of the Sultans of Arabia, Persia and India‘ and eventually ‘the Caliph of the faithful’. This was an attempt to put himself in the same grade of the mighty sultans of Baghdad, Persia, Damascus & Cairo – the greatest of the Muslim empires of that time.

To prove his might in the Islamic world and also to establish himself as the Caliph, he had to build the greatest mosque in the world and Sikandar did exactly that. He built the Adina Mosque (1373 CE) – the largest mosque in the entire subcontinent at that time. The size of the mosque is 172 Mt X 97 Mt which is almost the size of two football grounds kept side by side. The size and design of Adina Mosque were parallel to the biggest mosques in the world at that time. As per the beliefs, a standard mosque should have a Sahn (Open Courtyard) which is surrounded by Riwaqs (Cloisters) on three sides and a Zullah (Prayer Hall) on the side of Quibla. Adina, an all other grand mosques of that period confirms to this.

Architecturally, Adina Mosque is one of the earliest Islamic building in the country and many of its features are directly inherited from the middle-eastern style. The rectangular plan with a huge courtyard, 3-aisled Riwaqs and 5-aisled Zullah is similar to the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus. The Prayer Hall has a breadth of 24 meters and on the axis of it, a 10 meters wide central nave is created. The nave had a fabulous ribbed barrel vaulted roof – about 18 meters high. This barrel vault, the first such in the subcontinent, is similar to the Taq Kasra (Taq-e-Kesra/ Ayvan-e-Kasra) of Salman Pak, Iraq. The wall towards Quibla (the western wall)or the ribbed vault- all are imported from the Pre-Islamic Sasanian Persia. The Central Nave, (The vault is gone now) also has the raised prayer platform of the Imam (Pulpit) and a fascinating looking Mihrab (The niches on the wall). The steps of the pulpit are gone now but the intricate design of it is really beautiful.

See Adina Through My Lens

The front of the vault is missing and a lot of speculation is there about its design. It could have been closed with a rectangular frame with a huge pointed arched opening- just like the Persian Iwan. Since the Persian elements were widely used in the structure, the most likely alternative would be such however a completely enclosed design with multiple smaller arches is also possible.

See Adina Through My Lens

In total, Adina Mosque had 260 Pillars and 387 domed bays. The inner side of the mosque seen from the courtyard is arched and a total of 92 continues arches were there. At present, the vaults and domes which made the grand roof of the Adina Mosque are mostly gone but the walls that stand give a clear indication of what a magnificent structure once existed here. While most of the columns creating the Riwaqs are now gone, some facing the courtyard are present however the portion in the north of the central nave is somehow very well maintained.

In this part, a wooden platform is created which was the royal pavilion or the prayer hall for the sultan and his aides – keeping them at a higher level from rest of the people. In these buildings arches and vaults are used to create the roof, however, an intermediate floor – flat & load bearing- was a big challenge for them. That’s why wider columns, braced beams were placed to hold the floor. The design of the stones that create this intermediate floor does not bear much of Islamic style and these were most-probably materials gathered from existing Hindu or Buddhist temple in the same area. The wooden platform is created by placing long planks of timber.

On the Western wall, a chamber is created which is not totally in harmony with the plan of the mosque. This chamber has a connection with the royal pavilion and can be accessed from outside. In popular belief, the ASI signboard approves that, the Sultan rests here however it can be questioned. It was never thought to be the tomb of the sultan but lately, a sarcophagus was found inside the chamber which gave rise to the argument however the plan of the chamber does not go with the popular style. In most tombs the centre is kept clear where the body of the king is laid however in this case, two giant pillars are placed in the centre. Naturally, the body was not laid centrally. Another argument is that the chamber does not have a central dome – which is a common feature of tombs. Since the chamber looks like a later addition to the main mosque, many believe that it is the tomb of the great sultan who wished to remain close to his masterpiece even after his death – but it was not built like a tomb. The actual fact could be that the chamber was built during Sultan’s lifetime as a waiting hall for the royal guests coming to offer prayer. the direct connection between the chamber and the royal pavilion suggest so. It can be the case that, when the Sultan died in the hands of own son, the body was cremated here only. Another fact is that from outside, the upper level of the chamber can be accessed by a ramp which the place just below the pavilion can be accessed by two gates – these gates were probably for the royal guards who used to pray in the place under the pavilion.

See Adina Through My Lens

The Adina Mosque has been constructed with proper usage of stone & brick – which most of the stones were reused from some existing Hindu/Buddhist temple on the same area. The bricks were probably made during the construction of the mosque. The use of stone is largely restricted up to the lintel level above which the brick arches rise. The columns have a square base with a circular body and towards the top, it is inclined. The Royal Pavilion is supported with giant hexagonal columns with square base & square capital and on the upper level, fluted circular columns are placed.

Adina Mosque was once a true masterpiece in terms of its architectural grandeur. Most of the mosque is now broken and what stands now is only a bit of the great grand mosque of the East. Still, the remains and the ruins are enough to give a clear picture of what an ambitious sultan once erected to place himself in the same level with the most powerful rulers of the world.

Adina Masjid – The biggest mosque in the Subcontinent My next stop was the nearby Adina Mosque - the biggest mosque in the entire subcontinent and one of the first mosques in the region - now in ruins but thankfully well preserved.

#adina #adina mosque #architecture #Around West Bengal #art #History #malda #pandua #west bengal

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yesroyalrumble · 4 years

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🕉 🚩 🇮🇳 ⠀ ⠀ The Adina or Friday mosque is situated on National Hiighway No.34 between⠀ Raiganj in West Dinajpur district of West Bengal and Malda. ⠀ ⠀ It was built during the Bengal Sultanate as a royal mosque by Sikandar Shah, who is also buried in the mosque. Shah was a member of the Ilyas Shahi dynasty and carried lofty titles such as "the exalted Sultan" and "Caliph of the Faithful". The mosque is situated in Pandua, a former royal capital. The vast architecture is associated with the hypostyle of the Umayyad Mosque, which was used during the introduction of Islam in new areas. ⠀ ⠀ At first glimpse, the dual colour of the edifice walls strikes the visitor. The first ten feet immediately above the ground are grey in colour because of stone tiles. The upper 12 feet comprise of red brick work. Evidently, the current mosque was superimposed on an earlier building.⠀ ⠀ Hardly had one walked a few steps after entering the main gate, when one noticed, on the wall outside, distinct remnants of Hindu deities. They are carved on solid stone which on the outside mingles quite naturally with the tile work of thesame stone. One stone slab displays Ganesh by the side of his consort. There are several others including the crests of doorways at the entrance of the northern as well as the eastern face. Inside the mosque, the stone work is equally convincing that the original building was a temple.⠀ ⠀ There are some 20 alcoves in the northern wall. They all give the impression of temple carvings. If there be any doubt, it is set at rest by what was used as mimbar or the pulpit for the Imam. The face of the last step is covered with carvings of two female figures which, of course, have been defaced but are still unmistakably human statuettes.⠀ ⠀ The design of the mosque incorporated Bengali, Arab, Persian and Byzantine architecture. Although the mosque is eye-catching from far because of its size, but because of the finely precise executed designed decoration makes it hard to see the characteristics it holds without standing in a good distance from it.⠀ ⠀ Rest in comments 👇⠀ ⠀ ⠀ Source: Hindu Masjid by Prafull Goradia ⠀ ⠀ 📸 DM for credits ⠀ (at Adina Masjid, Malda) https://www.instagram.com/p/CC7fFDdArRE/?igshid=1lyalhrvj28ox

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travelless · 6 years

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Inside of Adina Masjid (Mosque)

#mosque #masjid #inside #interior #islamic #architecture #design #religion #travel #muslim #people #islam #beauti

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keralahoneymoontourpackage · 6 years

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Inside of Adina Masjid (Mosque)

#Holiday Club #Kerala Honeymoon Tour

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42soul · 6 years

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Inside of Adina Masjid (Mosque) by malaygemld

#IFTTT #500px #mosque #masjid #inside #interior #islamic #architecture #design #religion #travel #muslim #peopl

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healthwealthbridge · 6 years

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Adina Deer park or Adina Forest, near Malda town is a must visit in winters. It is a mini zoo maintained to preserve nature, encourage wildlife conservation, awareness and education among the population. We are a nature loving family and winter means quick weekend trips to explore nature.

When we first came to Malda my daughter was an infant.W e traveled carefully. But now we plan for short trips, every weekend during winters. They may be day trips or weekend gateways, whats common is they are close to nature. Last weekend we drove down to Adina Deer Park.

ADINA DEER PARK

ADINA DEER CHEETAL OR SPOTTED DEER

Adina BIRD WATCHING Asian stork

How to reach Adina Deer Park?

It is 350 Km from Kolkata. The nearest railway station is Malda station. If you are in Kolkata you need to take a train to Malda.

Best trains are Gour express( you reach Malda in the morning), the Sealdah-NJP Satabdi express, Darjeeling mail, and Padatik. Only Gour has Malda as the last station and arrives at the perfect time for a day trip to Adina. You can catch the Gour express at night on the same day at 9.35 pm to return to Kolkata. Check irctc site for best deals on trains and train schedules.

From Siliguri too, you have the Darjeeling mail, Shatabdi and Padatik express all good trains with various timings and your stay needs to be planned accordingly.

ADINA DEER PARK

The Deer Park timings

From 9.30 am till 5 pm. So the best trains are the ones which drop you off in the morning.

From Malda to Adina: Road trip

You can hire a car and drive to Adina Deer park. It’s a total journey of 22.5km from English Bazaar.20 Km of good roads on the National Highway 34 and two and a half kilometer of a bumpy ride in the interiors.

The forest area covers 80 hectares.

Charges

They allow you to drive inside with your car

Rs 20 for vehicle

Rs 10 Per person

What do you see at Adina Deer park?

Deers:The spotted deet or cheetal

The spotted deer or cheetal are in plenty. This is an important breeding ground for this variety. Currently, there are 90 spotted deer and 8 Neel Gai . But we didn’t see any Neel Gai.

Bird watching at Adina

An Aviary with several pretty birds. The road in front leads up to the area from where you can watch the deer’s play eat and stroll around. The entire area is well maintained, clean and is a litter, noise, and picnic free zone. They have a separate spot outside the reserve forest area for picnicking. The sad part is people play boom boxes in the picnic areas But luckily the birds still come to roost. We saw plenty of storks the Asian open bill. The other varieties that can be spotted are Paradise-flycatcher, Prinia, old world oriole and some unknown varieties. The sound of birds chirping is musical.

Butterflies

These are in plenty and in varied hues.

What you must carry:

Binoculars

Camera

Tissue

Food

Water

What should you avoid?

Speaking loudly shouting, speaking on the phone

Littering

Feeding the animals.

Remember you are visiting their home and you need to show them respect.

Watch the video below

What else to see around Adina Deer Park?

Adina Mosque

Other places of Interest around Malda

Ek Lakhi Mouseleum, Maldah Museum, Gaur.Mango orchards, Bangladesh border if you are inclined to visit.

Full address of Adina Deer Park is Nazrul Sarani, P.O. & Dist: Malda, Pin : 732101. contact no, 03512- 252346.

Where to stay in Malda town for a two-day trip?

The Golden Park : 3-star Hotel . Address: NH12, Narayanpur, West Bengal 732101 Phone: 03512 262 251. The hotel is 7 km from both Malda Town train station and the Malda District Museum. It’s 4 km from Arabinda Park.

Mango Leaf

Hotel Continental

Do you like nature travel? Tell me in the comments below.

Adina Deer Park:Back to nature Adina Deer park or Adina Forest, near Malda town is a must visit in winters. It is a mini zoo maintained to preserve nature, encourage wildlife conservation, awareness and education among the population.

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naturalwellnesssolutions · 6 years

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Adina Mosque | Malda Tourist Destinations | WBTourism | 2018

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selimzaveri-blog · 7 years

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at Adina Mosque

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dnomadicarchitect · 6 years

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Before heading towards Adina Masjid from Eklakhi Mausoleum, I made a quick visit to the third most prominent structure of Pandua – the Qutb Shahi Mosque. It is a small yet beautiful mosque made of stone & brick. The enclosed mosque is nothing compared to the massiveness of Adina but I really liked its ambience. The inside of the mosque is really beautiful and picturesque.

The Qutb Shahi Mosque of Pandua is also called the Sona Masjid because once its turrets and walls were gilded with gold plates – a common tradition in Sultanate Architecture of Bengal. Though the building is located just in front of the Eklakhi Mausoleum, they had a gap of a century and a lot of administrative changes between them. While the first one was constructed in the year 1433, the later was erected in 1582 and in between this one and a half centuries, the political scenario of India changed completely. When Eklakhi Mausoleum was constructed, the Sultans of Bengal were at their peak. The Great Mosque of the East was already there and the whole of Bengal was under a single, stable rule but when the Qutb Shahi Mosque came up, it was the Mughals who were ruling the biggest & richest empire on earth. The ruling Sultanate of Bengal was made a part of the history book and Subahdars or Governors appointed by the Mughals were taking care of the administration in the region. Long after the fall of the Guptas, Bengal once again became only a province of the powerful kingdom centred in the North of the country – Agra on this occasion.

Despite the fact, Qutb Shahi Mosque was built in the same style as the rest of the buildings in the region and there is no Mughal impression on the structure. Qutb Shahi Mosque was not a royal structure and was basically built in the memory of a Sufi Saint named – Nur-Qutb-Ul-Alam by his Makhdum Saikh – a descendent and follower of the saint. The gate of its eastern boundary is used to enter the premise and the gate is a simple one – rectangular in plan with four corner columns to strengthen the structure. The pointed arched gate is placed centrally. The use of stone and brick is haphazard – the bottom of the walls are built of stone with the upper half with brick but that does not follow any pattern. Entering through the gate opens up a rectangular courtyard at the end of which stands the lovely stone mosque.

The most interesting part of the mosque – to my eyes – was the narrow curve on the parapet which is an essential part of vernacular Bengali architecture and within a few decades was going to see extensive use at Bishnupur – a place too far and too remote from here. The rectangular mosque had four strengthening towers at the corners and a spherical cupola is placed on top of each tower. Cupola on top of towers is found in most of the Mughal structures and that could be the Mughal element in the structure.

The entire walls of the mosque are built of stone while the upper part – the domes – were built with bricks – which is now totally broken. Qutb Shahi Mosque measures 25.10 X 11.5 meters and is only two aisles in breadth. Another interesting element in the mosque is the presence of a pulpit inside it. Pulpit, though seen in many churches, was not generously used in mosques and no mosque erected in the Mughal period has a pulpit in it. Adina Mosque has a beautiful pulpit which shows it was common in the region and Qutb Shahi Mosque was more close to its regional architecture than contemporary Mughal style.

Five pointed-arched gates enter into the interior of the mosque where five beautiful Mihrabs are created on the Western Wall (The wall facing Qibla). Though the roof is totally gone it can be assumed that the five-row and two-aisle mosque had ten domes. The interior of the building, because of its grey stone finish is extremely beautiful and picturesque. At present, the building is not under use and is taken care of by ASI. Inside the mosque, a rectangular stone platform is present which is surely a later addition. It is a tomb of some saint from a later period. The mosque was built not as a dome but a prayer hall in memory of the Saint Nur-Qutb-Ul-Alam. From Outside the building is simple and the only decoration visible is the string moulding above the entry arches and below the cornice of the roof. Beautifully masoned stone blocks and its white mortar create a fabulous look for the building.

Once the walls of the building, the domes and the cupolas were gilded with gold plates (Bara Sona Mosque of Gour and Choto Sona Mosque of Bangladesh were also decorated likewise) and that’s why locals used to call it Sona Masjid. Along with the domes, the golds have also disappeared and right now it is only a deserted stone mosque. It does not take much time to tour the Qutb Shahi Mosque but when in Pandua this monument is not to be missed.

Qutb Shahi Masjid – Golden Mosque of Pandua Before heading towards Adina Masjid from Eklakhi Mausoleum, I made a quick visit to the third most prominent structure of Pandua - the Qutb Shahi Mosque.

#architecture #Around West Bengal #History #malda #monuments #pandua

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