An Amazing Pix of architectural Style: Karhapur Miya Barhi Jame Mosque

Karhapur Miya Barhi Jame Mosque

This Miya barhi jame mosque, ‍an amazing pix of architectural Style, is located in the village of Uttar Karhapura of Sadar upazila under Barishal district.  There are a Dighi (large pond) in the east side and a small pond in the west of the two-storied mosque. It may be easily reached the mosque within 30 to 45 minutes by Motor cycle, Auto rickshaw and Mahindra cars from Nathullabad Bus station and Hatim Ali Choumatha Bus stand of Barisal Sador.

Map: Location of Karhapur Miya Barhi Jame Mosque.

No historic inscription is found in this mosque which situated in the Barisal region of the southern part of Bangladesh. According to the historians, the mosque was probably built in the early 18th century AD. It is well known that a person named Hayat Mahmud is the founder of this mosque. He had been exiled to the Prince of Wales Island on account of revolt against British at the beginning of British rule. During this exile, he lost his Jamindari (Landlords) of Umedpur. He returned home after 16 years of exile and constructed a two-storied mosque and dug two ponds.

The mosque is originally built on the second floor of a height of 3.02 meters from the ground. The main prayer hall or the mosque room on the second floor is 13.5 meters in length and 6.0 meters in width.  There is a courtyard without roof in front of the mosque. The wall of the rectangular mosque is 1.5 meters thick.  It is built of bricks & lime-concrete.

With the architectural style of this mosque, it is found some matches of Shaista Khan Mosque built by Shaista Khan in the old Dhaka. The eastern wall of the mosque has 3 entrances. Each of the entrances has two arches. The outside arch of the entrances is multifoil and relatively high and the inner one is lancet or gothic. There is a window similar to the entrances in the north wall and the south wall. There are 3 mihrabs in the western wall inside the mosque. The arch of the mihrabs is lancet design. The middle mihrab of the wall is relatively large and high. 

In addition, there are several niches in the walls inside the mosque. The top of the mosque has 3 domes with the finial. The middle dome is larger in size among them. On the four sides of the three domes, i.e. around the roof there are a total of 24 minarets including 8 large and 16 small in size minarets. The domes, minarets, cornices, outer and interior walls of the mosque have different beautiful floral, leaves, etc. ornaments. There is a 16-steps stairway on the east side to enter the main prayer hall or the mosque on the second floor. 

There are two graves or tombs in the empty space under this stairway. Madrasa education program is run in the ground floor of this mosque. Currently, this Muslim architecture is listed and supervised by the Department of Archaeology as a protected archaeological heritage of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. [Md. Shahin Alam]

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