Feature

Thahkhana of Mirdha Masjid and Main structure of Mirdha Masjid

The Department of Archaeology in Bangladesh is heir to the Archaeological Survey of India, started in 1861 by Lord Cunningham the Father of Archaeology in the Indian subcontinent. With John Marshall as the next Surveyor General, credited with the Manual followed all over the subcontinent, another era dawned in heritage conservation. The Directorate of Archaeology of Pakistan was formed after 1947, with an Eastern Circle at Dhaka. The Antiquities Act 1968 was enacted for the preservation of all antiquities predating May 1857. Through an amendment in 1976, the criterion was redefined as 100 years preceding the date. However, the only large scale excavation DOA ever did independently was in Paharpur in 1938.

The DOA prepares the list of all sites and buildings of special architectural or historic value. Once the list is gazetted, it is responsible for protection and preservation of the building, for which it hardly has the right resource or skill. It has neither prepared an exhaustive list of important heritages in the country, nor ensured the proper protection and maintenance of 372 listed structures all over Bangladesh. Thus there are destructions of more heritage structures, buildings or artefacts frequently.

The DOA submitted a list of some 28 structures and buildings in 23 different sites in Dhaka for protection under the Building Construction Rules 2006 to RajUK. The list, mainly from the seventies, has not been updated since. Many important, old and ornate buildings that deserve preservation are not on the list; viz. Ahsan Manjil, Armenian Church, Binat Bibi Masjid, Bahadur Shah Park, St. Thomas Church, Kabi Nazrul College, Dufferine Hostel, Bibi ka Raoja, Dakhini Masjid, Peer Yemeni Masjid and Mazaar, Dara Bibi's Mazaar, Holy Rosary Church, Joikali Mandir, Christian Cemetery, Ambar Shah Masjid, Saleha Mariam Masjid, St. Gregory Church, Pogose School, etc. The list includes Lalbag Fort structures, Hussaini Dalan, Katra gates, Dhanmondi Eidgah, Satgambudj Masjid, several Shaista Khani mosques, Ahsan Manjil gate and the Ruplal House. A blue board in front of these structures warns people that according to the Antiquities Act any person who destroys, breaks, damages, alters, injures, defaces or mutilates, or scribbles, writes or engraves any inscription or sign on antiquity can be imprisoned or fined. However, this has been inadequate to deter vandalism or illegal occupation. The DOA maintains no vigilance nor does anything worthwhile to preserve the structures for posterity. It itself has often perpetrated misuse or defacing of heritage structures. During one of my recent visits to Katra I found that the DOA is renting out the cells to alien commercial uses harming the structure. Despite the difficult restoration of the Fort, the DOA has earned infamy from detrimental work on the walls and addition of modern toilets within it, ruining the Fort's chance to be in the World Heritage List.

After the Nagar Bhaban was built, Rajuk engaged the architect of BDR's Centenary Gate at Peelkhana for face-lifting of their own building which was once the symbol of Dhaka City

Failing to ensure proper protection of the Satgambudj Mosque, the Department recently painted it white over the pinkish lime plaster. It also failed to ensure proper protection of almost all other structures like the Eidgah and Ruplal House. Similarly during restoration, it has been involved in unethical practices and wrong doing that contributed to destroying the heritage in Panamnagar that we along with the architecture students and young teachers of several universities tried to stop.

Complex and complicated property acquisition procedure has barred the DOA from preserving even the listed structures. The other prevalent view is that its paternalistic attitude is responsible for its failure. Yet conservation of Lalbag Fort, Haji Khwajah Shahbaz's Masjid and Mazaar, Khan Muhammad Mirdah's Masjid, Satgambudj Masjid and Mazaar, and the Eidgah undertaken by it in Dhaka is mention worthy.

The 1678 Lalbag Fort encloses a typical Mughal garden with few structures in ruins. Encroachment within the walls, destruction, defacement of different structures and changes in internal spaces, had put the fort in a sorry state. The two-storied block was partly damaged; bathhouse, niches were filled in and decorative panels plastered over. The DOA accomplished a good job in restoring the structure and converting it into a museum, but the pinkish finish on the exterior, rather than the original lustrous white, raised debates. It also worked on other structures: the Mosque, Tomb, gateway and rampart. It shied away from proper excavation and documentation of the intricate water supply system a network of terracotta pipes, an aqueduct, a water reservoir and several fountains.

In 1950 the Eastern Circle of the Pakistan Directorate of Archaeology took over the Masjid and adjacent square mazaar of Haji Khwaja Shahbaz. The three domed oblong mosque built in 1679 was in a bad state of repair. The Directorate restored the dochala roof on the veranda of the tomb and the decorative features; reconstructed the brick podium and provided adequate provision for ablution and sanitation services. In a way the other two mosques built slightly later than this one bear similar features in a refined form.

Patronised by Qazi Ibadullah, the chief judge who was briefly the Naib Nazim in charge in Farrukhshiar's absence, Mirdha (Mirza) either built or supervised the construction of the Khan Muhammad Mirdah's Masjid at Atishkhana in 1704 or 1706. The typical three domed oblong structure rests on a vaulted 16' high tahkhana, surrounded by colonnades; there are 17 square chambers with flat brick roof connected from this, used either as shops or madrasa. The municipality for sometime used the space as a cowshed. A majestic 9' wide straight stair goes up from a large garden-yard through a narrow gate to the tahkhana roof (sahn); the basalt steps are joined by iron clamp. Along the front podium parapet are two small octagonal bastions. The mosque is surrounded by the sahn on all sides with a huzra to the northeast where the Imam lives and teaches Quran to children; part of it and the boundary walls look like late-additions.

There are three cusped archways on the eastern wall, echoed by three niches on the qibla wall; both the central darwaza and niche are taller. The single opening on north and south is closed with jali. Two lateral arches divide the interior, topped by three squat onion-domes embellished with blind merlons. The side domes are made smaller by using semi-pendentives. Four corner turrets elaborately stretched above the parapet have cupolas. Pinnacled pilasters border the entrances and mihrab on back wall; inside the mihrabs have floriated engaged colonettes, cusped arches, and elegantly moulded kanjuras. The façade is profusely panelled with ornamental merlons. To give an impression of imperial buildings done in red sandstone, masons used brick dust on outside walls.

During my student years at BUET, and in years afterwards, we would almost everyday gather at a friend's house near the China Building in Azimpore. Among them there are now professors at home and abroad, generals and one adviser to the Caretaker Government. I would often slip out of the adda and walk around as this was a place on the invisible boundary between old and new Dhaka. This is something I got used to when I was nine, I would just slip out of school and roam around the meandering galis in Mymensingh. On one such loitering towards south I suddenly came across a long red wall on my left at a crossing; as I went round I discovered this mosque to me one of the most elegant and unusual structures; we hadn't have studied Indian or Bengal architecture yet, usually taken in the second year. Later I would frequently visit the place as I became acquainted with the owner of a biscuit factory adjacent to the mosque.

In 1913 the Archaeological Survey of India listed Khan Mirdha's Masjid; by then it had undergone alterations and appropriations that had to be demolished to restore it to its original form. The earliest photograph available on the mosque shows a ruined structure just before this early restoration attempt. Thereafter both the DOA and mosque committee have undertaken periodic repairs some of which ignored the architectural and historic importance of the building. To compensate for the damaged drains and arrest further deterioration the authority provided new outlets to drain rainwater out from the upper terrace; and improved water and sanitation services. The structure also experienced many encroachments that constricted the compound, which drew serious attention of the architects when it was included as a case study in an architectural conservation workshop in 1989 in Dhaka.