Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
arasta, bedestan, Ottomans
bedestan
Special closed form of Turkish market where goods of high
value were traded. The usual form of bedestan is a long domed
or vaulted hall two storeys high with external shop units.
Originally bedestan referred to the area of a market
where cloth was sold or traded from the ‘bezzaz han’
(cloth market). The earliest bedestans were probably
specific areas of a general bazar or market. The earliest
known bedestan is the Beysehir Bedestan built in 1297
according to an inscription above the gateway. The
building consists of a closed rectangular courtyard
covered by six domes supported on two central piers.
There are doorways on three sides and on the outside
there are small open shop units, six on the east and
west sides and nine on the north and south sides.
During the Ottoman period bedestans developed as
a specific building type and became the centre of
economic life in a city. Because they could be locked
they were often used for jewellery or money
transactions and came to be regarded as signs of
prosperity in a city. Ottoman bedestans were built in
a variety of forms and may include features such as
external shops, internal cell units and arastas (arcades).
The simplest plan consists of a square domed hall with
one or two entrances like those at Amasya or Trabzon.
More complicated structures like the Rüstem Pasha
Bedestan in Erzerum consist of a central enclosed
courtyard surrounded by a closed vaulted corridor
containing shop units.
Bengal
Low-lying delta area in the north-west corner of the Indian
subcontinent.
The character of Bengal is largely determined by the
Ganges and Bramaputra rivers which divide into
innumerable branches before entering the sea.
Although the area is currently divided between the two
modern states of India and Bangladesh it retains a
certain homogeneity based on its language (Bangli) and
culture.
In the thirteenth century the region was conquered
by Muslim Turks who occupied the city of Gaur
(Lakhnaw) in north-west Bengal. From this base the
areas of Satgaon (south-west Bengal) and Sonargaon
(east Bengal) were conquered and incorporated into
an independent sultanate in 1352 CE by Iliyas Shah.
Despite dynastic changes the area remained
independent until the sixteenth century when it was
incorporated into the Mughal sultanate, and even then
it still retained its identity as a separate province.
Lack of suitable building stone in the area meant
that the predominant materials of construction were
red clay bricks from the alluvial silts and bamboo and
thatch. The majority of buildings were made of
bamboo and thatch and consist of a rectangular area
which is roofed by a curved thatch roof (‘char-chala’
and ‘do-chala’). Most of the more important buildings,
however, were made out of brick. In the pre-Mughal
period such buildings were faced either with red
terracotta plaques or less frequently in stone. From
the sixteenth century onwards brick buildings were
coated in white plaster.
One of the achievements of Bengali building was
its translation of traditional bamboo and thatch
architecture into more permanent stone and brick
forms. One of the best examples of this is the use of
curved roofs from the sixteenth century onwards.
There are two main forms of this roof—do-chala and
char-chala. A do-chala roof consists of a central curved
ridge rising in the middle with curved side eaves and
gabled ends. A char-chala roof is made of crossed
curved ridges with curved eaves. The earliest surving
example of this roof type in a brick building is the
tomb of Fath Khan at Gaur dated to the seventeenth
century. This form was so successful that it was used
elsewhere in the Mughal Empire, at Agra, Fatehpur
Sikri, Delhi and Lahore. In addition to its aesthetic
appeal curved roofs also have a practical purpose in
an area of high rainfall.
Other characteristic features of Bengali architecture
adopted by the Mughals and used elsewhere are the
two-centre pointed arch and the use of cusped arches
for openings.
The predominant form of Islamic architecture in
Bengal is the mosque. In pre-Mughal Bengal the
mosque was virtually the only form of Islamic building,
although after the sixteenth century a wide variety of
Islamic building types such as the caravanserai and
Bengal

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madrassa were introduced. Characteristic features of
Bengali mosques of all periods are multiple
mihrabs, engaged corner towers and curved
cornices. Although multiple mihrabs sometimes
occur in North India, Bengal is the only place where
they are a constant feature in mosques. The number
of mihrabs is determined by the number of
entrances in the east wall. Engaged corner towers
are a constant feature of Bengali architecture and
may derive from pre-Islamic temples. Curved
cornices are probably derived from the curved roofs
of bamboo huts; it is possible that they may have a
practical function for draining water away from the
base of the domes.
During the pre-Mughal sultanate three types of
mosque were built, rectangular, square nine-domed
and square single-domed.
Mosques built on a rectangular plan are divided
into aisles and bays according to the number of
domes on the roof. At the east end of each aisle is a
doorway and at the west end a mihrab. There are
also openings on the south and north sides of the
mosque corresponding to the number of bays. The
nine-domed mosques are similar to those found
elsewhere in the Islamic world, but they differ in
having three mihrabs at the west end. The most
popular form of mosque in pre-Mughal Bengal was
the single-domed chamber. It is likely that this
design is developed from the pre-Islamic temple
of Bengal.
None of these early mosques was equipped with
minarets and sahns as was common in the Middle
East but these features were introduced with the
Mughal conquest in the sixteenth century. However,
the Mughals were also influenced by the local
architecture of Bengal and it is from this period that
we have the first example of a do-chala roof
translated into brick (the Fath Khan Tomb at Gaur,
dated to the seventeenth century).
Muslim buildings can be found all over the region
of Bengal, although the largest concentra-tions can
be found at Dhaka and Gaur (Lucknow). Calcutta,
the capital of Indian Bengal, was founded during
the period of British rule in the nineteenth century.
As might be expected the early mosques of the city
show strong British influence. The descendants of
Tipu Sultan built three mosques in the city all with
the same double-aisled, multi-domed rectangular
plan. The most famous of these buildings, the Tipu
Sultan Mosque built by his son Muhammad, is built
in the style of a European building with Tuscan
colonettes and Ionic columns used for the windows
and central piers.