Chhota Shona Mosque

The Chhota Shona Mosque is located in Chapainawabganj district of Bangladesh. The mosque is situated about 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) south of the Kotwali Gate and 0.5 kilometers (0.31 mi) to the south-east of the Mughal Tahakhana complex in the Firozpur Quarter.

The mosque was built during the reign of the Sultan of Bengal Alauddin Husain Shah, between 1493 and 1519. The fifteen domes of the mosque were once gilded, giving the mosque the name of Choto Shona Masjid (Small Golden Mosque). The mosque is one of the best-preserved sultana monuments under protection by the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Governments of Bangladesh. The gilding that gave the building its name does not exist anymore. The mosque premise, which covers an area of 42 m from east to west by 43.5 m from north to south, was originally surrounded by an outer wall (now restored) with a gateway in the middle of the east side.

Chhota Sona Mosque sometimes described as a ‘gem of Sultanate architecture’ is situated about 3 kilometres’ south of kotwali darwaza and half a kilometre to the southeast of the tahkhana complex in the Firuzpur Quarters of gaur-lakhnauti, the capital of Sultanate Bengal. It occupies the western end of the southern bank of a large tank. A little to the west of the mosque is a modern two-storied Guest House, built several years ago by the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Bangladesh. In between the Guest House and the mosque there runs north-south a modern road, which appears to have been of earlier origins, connecting the main city of Gaur-Lakhnauti with its suburb to the south through the Kotwali Darwaza.

An inscription tablet still fixed over the central doorway records that the mosque was built by one Majlis-al-Majalis, Majlis Mansur Wali Muhammad bin Ali.

The Arabic letters in the inscription, giving the exact date of construction, have been obliterated. But the name of Sultan Alauddin husain shah (as written in the text...defender of Islam and of the Muslims, Sultan Ala al-dunya wal-din) suggests that the mosque must have been built sometime during his rule (899-925 AH/ 1493 -1519 AD).

The mosque is one of the best-preserved Sultanate monuments under the protection of the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Bangladesh. The gilding employed in the ornamentation that has given the building its appellation Chhota Sona Masjid (Small Golden Mosque) does not exist now. An outer wall originally surrounded the mosque premise, which covers an area of 42m from east to west and 43m from north to south, with a gateway in the middle of the east side. Leaving only the gateway, the entire surrounding wall has completely disappeared, but its trace can still be clearly detected at places. Barbed wire fencing has now been erected in line with the original enclosure wall. Local people report that near the gateway, there was originally a stepped masonry ghat with approaches from the south.

Built of brick and stone, the mosque proper forms a rectangle. It has an outside dimension of 25.1m from north to south and 15.9m from east to west. All four walls are veneered externally and to some extent also internally with granite stone blocks. The stone facings on the southern side of the west wall have disappeared because of conservation works after its destruction by the great earthquake of 1897. The four exterior angles of the building are strengthened with polygonal towers, of which nine facets are visible. There is a rectangular projection in the centre of the exterior face of the back wall corresponding to the central mihrab. The cornices are bow-curved and have stone gutters to drain off the rainwater from the roof.

There are five doorways in the eastern facade and three each on the north and south walls. Corresponding to the archways in the east wall there are five semi-circular mihrabs inside the west wall. The stones of most of these mihrabs are now gone making the entire west wall bare, although at one time they constituted the most beautiful part of the Mosque.

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