Pandua, Malda

"See Pandua for disambiguation.

Pandua or Hazrat Pandua or Firuzabad is a historical city, presently lying in the ruined condition in Malda district of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located about 11 km from Malda town.

The city was probably founded by Sams-ud-Din Firuz Shah [Majumdar, R.C. (ed.)(2006). "The Delhi Sultanate", Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, p.193] . In 1339, Ala-ud-Din Ali Shah transferred his capital from the nearby (and now ruined) town of Lakhnauti or Gaur (32 km from Pandua) to Pandua [Mahajan, V.D. (1991, reprint 2007). "History of Medieval India", Part I, New Delhi: S. Chand, ISBN 81-219-0364-5, p.274] . Later, Haji Shamsuddin Iliyas Shah, the first independent Sultan of Bengal, made the city the capital of his (unified) Bengal Sultanate. However, Pandua's glory was shortlived. In 1453, the capital was transferred back to Gaur by Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah, perhaps necessitated by a change in the course of the river on which Pandua stood [Majumdar, R.C. (ed.)(2006). "The Delhi Sultanate", Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, p.212] .

The monuments of Pandua

The monuments of Pandua were built in the Bengal provincial style of the Indo-Islamic architecture. Pandua's most celebrated monument is the Jami Mosque or the Adina Mosque, which was described by James Fergusson as the finest example of Pathan architecture in existence. This great mosque (similar in plan to the great mosque at Damascus) was built by Sikandar Shah in 1369. Other important monuments of this city are the Eklakhi mausoleum (the mausoleum of Jala-ud-Din Muhammad Shah) and the Qutb Shahi Mosque (built in the memory of sufi saint Nur Qutb-ul-Alam). The Eklakhi mausoleum is a single-domed square type of structure, whose fabric is of brick, occasionally interspersed with horn-blende slabs collected from older Hindu monuments [Majumdar, R.C. (ed.)(2006). "The Delhi Sultanate", Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, p.690] . Pandua is now (like Gaur) almost entirely given over to the wilderness.

Notes

References

*

ee also

* Malda District
* History of Bengal

External links

* [http://archnet.org/library/places/one-place.jsp?place_id=8241&order_by=year&showdescription=1&collection_id=22 Pandua] in archnet.org
* [http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=7546 Adina Mosque] in archnet.org