Wali Khan Mosque (Chittagong)
is situated at Chawk Bazar, city centre of Mughal Chittagong. Wali
Beg Khan, a Mughal Faujdar at Chittagong, built the six-domed masonry
mosque in between AD 1713-1716. He also made a gift of 120 dronas
of land in Kadalpur, Nizampur and Sandwip for the upkeepment of the mosque.
Wali Khan founded Chawk Bazar and built his residence with a kutchery
near by. He also dug a big tank near his residence known as Kamaldaha.
The rectangular double-aisled mosque has four engaged octagonal
towers at the outer angles. It has three entrances on the east;
the central one, contained within a rectangular fronton, is bigger
than the flanking ones. The fronton facing the Chawk added grandeur
to the Mughal city.
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Wali Khan Mosque, Chittagong |
The interior of the mosque measures 17.68 metres in length
and 10.21 metres in breadth. Two robust brick piers along with other supporting
pilasters and arches have divided the prayer chamber into three bays -
each roofed over with two domes. Thus there are six identical hollow domes,
three in a row; each is set on an octagonal drum and crowned with multi-tired
finial. There are three mihrabs in the qibla wall. The central
mihrab has lost all its past embellishment due to drastic repair and redecoration,
but its projection on the back of the qibla wall is still noticeable.
This massive mosque has lost much of its glory due to extensive
later renovations. The north, south and east walls are now hidden
behind the veranda extensions and the grand look of the mosque
is no longer visible from outside.
[Shamsul Hossain]
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Ground plan, Wali Khan
Mosque |
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