The architecture of Bengal, which comprises the modern country of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, has a long and rich history, blending indigenous elements with influences from different parts of the world. Bengali architecture includes ancient urban architecture, religious architecture, rural vernacular architecture, colonial townhouses and country houses, and modern urban styles. The bungalow style is a notable architectural export of Bengal. The corner towers of Bengali religious buildings were replicated in medieval Southeast Asia. Bengali curved roofs were copied by the Mughals in North India.
Bengal is not rich in good stone for building, and traditional Bengali architecture mostly uses brick and wood, often reflecting the styles of the wood, bamboo and thatch styles of local vernacular architecture for houses. Decorative carved or moulded plaques of terracotta (the same material as the brick) are a special feature.
Antiquity
Urbanization is recorded in the region since the first millennium BCE. This was part of the second wave of urban civilization in the Indian subcontinent, following the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization. Ancient Bengal was part of a network of urban and trading hubs stretching to Ancient Persia. The archaeological sites of Mahasthangarh, Paharpur, Wari-Bateshwar ruins, Chandraketugarh and Mainamati provide evidence of a highly organized urban civilization in the region. Terracotta became a hallmark of Bengali construction, as the region lacked stone reserves. Bricks were produced with the clay of the Bengal delta.
Ancient Bengali architecture reached its pinnacle during the Pala Empire, especially in the construction of viharas, temples and stupas. Pala architecture influenced Tibetan and Southeast Asian architecture. The most famous monument built by the Pala emperors was the Grand Vihara of Somapura, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Historians believe Somapura was a model for the architects of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
Empire Pala
Empire The palace was a Buddhist dynasty in the possession of Bengal from the 8th to the 12th century. The Palaus Dynasty created a special form of Buddhist art known as the “School of Art Sculpture School”. The giant structures of Vikramshila Vihara, Odantpuri Vihar and Jagaddal Vihar were masterpieces of the Pala Dynasty. These colossal structures were destroyed by the forces of Bakhtiar Khiljit. Somapura Mahavihara , a creation of Dharmapala in Paharpur, Bangladesh, is the largest Buddhist Vihara in the Indian subcontinent and has been described as a “pleasure for the eyes of the world.” UNESCO has proclaimed it a World Heritage Monument in 1985. The architectural style of the country was pursued throughout South East Asia and China , Japan and Tibet. The Bengal Region has rightly been named the “Lady of the East”. Dr. Stella Kramrisch says: “The art of Bihar and Bengal exerted a long influence over Nepal , Burma, Sri Lanka and Javas.” Dhimani and Vittpala were two prominent sculptors of the Palais Empire. About Somapura Mahaviharas, Mr. JC French says with sorrow: “For Egypt’s Pyramids, millions of dollars are spent each year, but we have spent only one per cent of that amount for the excavation of Somapura Mahaviharas, who knows what extraordinary discoveries would have been made.”
Medieval and early modern periods
Hindu and Jain
Most temples surviving in reasonable condition date from about the 17th century onwards, after temple building revived; it had stopped after the Muslim conquest in the 13th century. The roofing style of Bengali Hindu temple architecture is unique and closely related to the paddy roofed traditional building style of rural Bengal. Roofing styles include the jor-bangla, do-chala, char-chala, at-chala, deul, ek-ratna, pancharatna and navaratna. Bishnupur in West Bengal has a remarkable set of such temples which being built from the Malla dynasty are examples of this style. Most of these temples are covered on the outer surface with terra cotta reliefs which contains plenty of secular materials making these important to reconstruct the social structure from these times.
The temple structures contain gabled roofs which are colloquially called the chala, For example, a gabled roof with an eight sided pyramid structured roof with be called “ath chala” or literally the eight faces of the roof. And frequently there is more than one tower in the temple building. These are built of laterite and brick bringing them at the mercy of severe weather conditions of southern Bengal. Dakshineswar Kali Temple is one example of the Bhanja style while the additional small temples of Shiva along the river bank are example of southern Bengal roof style though in much smaller dimension.
Bengali Mortal Architecture
Mortal architecture is a type of building erected on the graves. Tombs in Bengal are scarce in number but show significant differences and interesting adoption of traditional Islamic forms according to tastes and regional requirements. As in Muslim countries, the orders of the hadith to practice taswiyat al-quburin, that is, to level the grave according to the surrounding terrain, does not stop the erection of a tomb over the level of the terrain, the erection of cenotaphs of bricks or stones, or monumental mausoleum buildings in Bengal. The pre-Mogule and Mogule architectural and epigraphic wastes had three burial groups for the occupants – the invaders and the nobility, the saints and the Ghazan fighters (victors of the religious wars). The Arabic word qabr is used to show a grave; the samadhi bengal word for a tomb and the mazar ‘s Persian term is a reverence for the tomb of a high ranking person. The tombs of saints and ghosts, when connected to the complexes of dargah, are called the meaning of dargah; Persian astana term for a sacred tomb is not common in Bengal. The mortal inscriptions contain terms such as maqbara, tyrbe, qabr, gunbad, rawza. Tombs in Bengal can be classified in two chronological periods: Sultanate or Pre-Mogule and Mogule.
Sultanate or Pre-Mogule Tombs
As in other Bengalian Muslim buildings in Bengal, local tastes and techniques are more pronounced in pre-Mogule graves, while the preference for the cosmopolitan Mogul style prevails on the Mogule mortal structures. Despite the small number of surviving mortal inscriptions, a systematic study of mortal architecture in Bengal based on the historical sequence has become difficult because most of the tombs in the present state are without inscriptions to mark the names of the dead or dates the construction of graves. Domestic traditions are often based on the hypothesis of a tomb, though internal backwardness in technique and style of construction provide a strong foundation for determining the authenticity of a burial ground.
The burial ground in Bengal varies from the shape of the mortal enclosures to the open sky without architectural coverage to monumental mausoleums. The tombs of some of the most important saints in Bengal -Shan Jalal in Sylhet, Alaul Haq and Nur Qutbul Alami in Chhoti Dargha, Paqndua, are in open enclosures and in accordance with the orthodox faith that “only the deceitful deeds of the dead will offer that protection and shadow “. Baba Adam Shaid’s Tomb at Rampal, Munshiganj, one of the earliest known Muslim Bengal saints, was until recently without architectural coverage. Between the graves of the first ghost, the Mazar-madrasa complex in Tribeni, attributed to Zafar Khan on the basis of two inscriptions dated in 698 of Hijra (1298 of our calendar) and 713 of Hijra (1313 of our calendar) belong to the category of tombs in the open sky. The tomb consists of two quadruple rooms without a roof over a stone plinth. This grave is not only the earliest Muslim monument known in Bengal but is also the earliest mausoleum in East India. The black basalt sarcophagus sculpted neatly in Mograpara (Sonargaon) near Panch Pir Mazar was attributed to Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah (dead in 1411). The ornaments depict the hangers hanging from the niche on the sides of the sarcophagus to recall the motifs with the bulbs in the mosques of the Adina Mosque built by Ghiyasuddin’s father Sikandar Shah in 776 of Hijra (1375-6 CE); his mortal symbolism was developed in the medieval Iranian graves. Sikandari (dead in 1389) is believed to be buried in a nine-cubed (now ruined) quay adjacent to the western edge of the western exterior of the Adina Mosque. The cubicle or cube dome monument is the oldest and most common type of grave in Bengal, as in other parts of the Muslim world. It existed in pre-Mogule and Mogule periods. The dome in Imadpur, India’s Bihar Sharif, identified as the tomb of the first Turkish invader of Bengal, Bakhtiyar Khalji (dead in 1206), dates back to a later period based on stylistic details by ZA Desai. The earliest existing dome framed in the Bengali region forms and also the first monumental burial ground in Bengal is the Eklakhi mausoleum in Pandua. This is believed to be the burial place of Sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad (dead in 1433), his wife and son, Shamsuddin Ahmad Shah. The tombstones of the tomb, the square exterior with a curved frame, the octagonal angular tower and an entrance on each side, are internally turned into an octagonal brickwork brick emptied in four angles to accommodate four cells of small; the dome stands on the attached stone columns. Formerly lavishly decorated, the surface embellishes traces of floral paintings on the interior plaster and a variety of terracotta tiles and tiled tiles in the exterior. Eklakhi style became a symbol of Bengal’s architecture during later periods Iliyas Shahit and Husain Shahit and continued in the early Mogule period. Two important tombs in the Eklakhi tradition in Bangladesh are those of Khan Jahan in Bagerhat dated 863 of Hijra (1459 CE) and Badr Pirit of Chittagong. These graves resemble one another in many respects. Although both now deprived of the original ornamentation of their site as a protected monument, Khan Jahan’s grave is in a better state of preservation and holds many of its original features. To accommodate the cubic on the square mortal, the passage phase in both graves is achieved by overlapping the brackets. The most distinctive feature of Khan Jahan’s Tomb is his sarcophagus written with refined calligraphy. Shah Safi’s grave (dead at the end of the 13th or early 14th century) at the dargah complex in Chhota Pandua (Hughli, Western Bengal ) in its current state is the mogul remodeling of a para-canle with a curved frame . The Most Important Monument in the Eklakhi Tradition is Bahram Saqqas Mausoleum in Burdwan who died during the reign of Akbar in 970 Hijra (1562-3 CE). In Monghyr (Bihar, India) this tradition is reflected in the grave of Shah Nafas, built in 903 of Hijra (year 1497-8 CE) by the son of Alauddin Hussain Shah, Prince Daniyal. From the black basal sarcophagus of Husain Shah (dead in 1519 CE), there has been no trace, though it survived until 1846, or the tombs of later sultans in Gaul Banglakot.
Islamic
Islamic influence in the Bengali architecture can be seen from the 12th century. The oldest surviving mosque was built during the Delhi Sultanate. The mosque architecture of the independent Bengal Sultanate period (14th, 15 and 16th centuries) represents the most important element of the Islamic architecture of Bengal. This distinctive regional style drew its inspiration from the indigenous vernacular architecture of Bengal, including curved chala roofs, corner towers and complex floral carvings. Sultanate-era mosques featured multiple domes or a single dome, richly designed mihrabs and minbars and an absence of minarets. While clay bricks and terracotta were the most widely used materials, stone was used from mines in the Rarh region. The former Adina Mosque was the largest mosque ever built in the medieval Indian subcontinent. The surviving Sixty Dome Mosque is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Sultanate style also includes gateways and bridges. The style is widely scattered across the region.[page needed]
Tombs Mogule
Mogule’s existing tombs are more numerous than the Sultanate tombs and show a greater variety of shapes by multiplying the forerunner styles. They are built separately, often in the vicinity of the mosques, or within a walled enclosure that forms a small complex with a mosque, or in larger complexes of religious buildings and jetties located within fortified gardens, for example: tombs of Bibi Par in Lalbagh Fortress (Dhaka) and Anwar Shahid (Burdwan). The octagonal graves appeared for the first time in Bengal during the Mogule period. The dome gained its exterior appearance by having a right frame. A Dhaka-type dauber group attributed to Nawab Shaista Khan’s female housewife members are wonderful examples of mortal structures. Mogule tombstones are usually raised on platforms but sometimes blind blind panels. In addition to its basic shape as a cubic dome, during the mundle dube period, it obtained two further forms, consisting of attachments:
a southern veranda in the square mortal and
an ambulatory consisting of a continuous veranda or rooms and passageways around the mortuary.
Representing the first type are two significant examples in Dhaka. The first tomb is believed to be Khwaja Shahbazi, which, according to the inscriptions of the nearby mosque, built a mosque in 1089 of Hijra (1679 CE), located in Ramna, Dhaka. The tomb and mosque form a complex within a walled siege that flows through a portico in the south-east. The other grave, attributed to Dara Begum, is now without any buried. He has been attached as a prayer room of the Lalmatia Jami Mosque; the mihrabi in the western wall of the original gravesite room eased this transformation. The second type architecture finds a prototype in the tomb of I’timad al-Daulas erected by Nurjahani in Agra between 1622-28. Compared to the simple cube plan, its sophisticated design makes this particular type. In Bengal there are four remarkable examples of this type: (i) Shah Niamatullah’s grave (died in the second half of XVII century) in Firuzpur, Gaur (Bangladesh), attributed to Shah Shujas patronage (1639-60); (II) the tomb of Bibi Par in Lalbagh, Dhaka; (III) the tomb of Bibi Mariam in Dhaka; and (IV) Bakht Hum’s tomb at Rajmahal, attributed to Shaista Khan’s patronage and dating back to the late seventeenth century. The last example of this type in Bengal is the tomb at Khushbagh, Murshidabad, where Alivardi Khani and Siraj ud-Daulahu are buried with other members of their family. This tip represents interesting variations in design – the Niamatullah and Bibi Mariam tombs have porches for ambulators; The tombs of Bibi Par and Bakht Humas have side passages and rooms at angles. Again, the tombs of Niamatullah, Bibi Par and Bakht Humas have three archetypes, while the one of Bibi Mariam has five arches in each of the four wings. In the context of the general use of brick in the Bengal architecture, the tomb of Bibi Parit is unparalleled for the extensive use of marble brought separately from Jaipur, the black basal by Gaya and the sandstone from Chunari for interiors. The architectural adoption of a simple Bengalian hut with its dochala or chauchala roof became a significant tombstone in the seventeenth century in the Bengalian architecture. Like Eklakhi’s style, it was not confined to mortal buildings but became popular in various structural forms. An outstanding example is the Fath Khan’s tomb at Gaur where a plastered tulle structure with a dochala roof over a single square mortar with entry to the south and west is built in the group walled by the wall of Kadam Rasul. Another good example of the dochala type is the side chambers attached to the Anwar Shahid’s square in Burdwan. The chauchala roof used in the Mogule tombs in Bengal does not represent the true bengal chauchala form; that is, what Dani calls a ‘segmented square roof’ of the type used in the tomb of I’timad al-Daula’a. One of the earliest examples of this type is supposed to be the tomb of Islam Khan Chishtit (dead in 1613), now rebuilt through recognition at the Dhaka Supreme Court complex. In Chittagong, the tomb near Bagh Hamza Hamza is a good example of this type. The chauchala tents at the Ibrahim Danishmand Tomb complex in Mograpara are interesting interpretations of a Sultanate period feature. The remnants of a two-story tomb at Arifil, Brahmanbaria, containing two graves on bases and two cenotaphs in the upper floors resemble a modest distribution form with the tomb of I’timad al-Daul. The remains of two octagonal tombs in Nauda (Rajshahi) and Burhanpur (Rajmahal) in their appearance as pavilions and surface treatment to suit the pattern of the tombstones under the reign of Shah Jahan. Murshidabad’s Naboo tombs during the eighteenth century reflect their preference. The modest burial place of Murshid Quli Khan under the entrance portal of his Mosque Katra (Murshidabad) consists of a small room with a muddy tomb, fulfilling his last wish that “the dust of the worshipers’ feet could be on his chest “. Alivardi Khani wanted to be buried in his much loved kindergarten, Khushbagh. Mir Jafar is buried in Jafargan’s cemetery between a thousand graves in the open sky. Worship of the dead in Bengal and the creation of genius of modern Bengali builders has produced some remarkable architecture examples in Bangladesh. Tin Netar Mazari in Dhaka marks the burial place of three pre-liberation Bengali political leaders -AK Fazlul Huq, Khawaja Nazimuddin and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy – is a motif of archery in traditional Islamic architecture. The graves of the Nazrul Islam poet and President Ziaur Rahman in Dhaka are outstanding examples of modern open graves in Bangladesh.
Mughal Bengal saw the spread of Mughal architecture in the region, including forts, havelis, gardens, caravanserais, hammams and fountains. Mughal Bengali mosques also developed a distinct provincial style. Dhaka and Murshidabad were the hubs of Mughal architecture. The Mughals copied the do-chala roof tradition in North India.
Colonial period
The period of British rule saw wealthy Bengali families (especially zamindar estates) employing European firms to design houses and palaces. The Indo-Saracenic movement was strongly prevalent in the region. While most rural estates featured an elegant country house, the cities of Calcutta, Dacca, Panam and Chittagong had widespread 19th and early 20th century urban architecture, comparable to London, Sydney or Auckland. Art deco influences began in Calcutta in the 1930s.
Terracotta Temple Architecture
Though there are a host of testimonies of human settlements in Bengal since prehistoric times there is a sad shortage of archaeological evidence. This is because of the Bengalian soil structure. The widespread community in the alluvial plateau of the entire powerful Gangut and Brahmaputras river region is vulnerable to flooding and the resulting unstable geo-graphic pattern. The only regions somewhat untouched by the floods are the western Chota Nagpuri and the hills of the Himalayas of the east and the north. This ground structure is reflected in the selected building material by the Bengali temple designers. Mostly terracotta temples with refined surface decorations and inscriptions in Nagari’s alphabets. The roof structure has also been affected by the severe floods of the Gang and Terai delta proving during the monsoons, has effectively been curved most of the time to get rid of the large amount of water as quickly as possible and so thus increasing the lifespan of the structure. Architectural evidence has generally been formed by the Gupta Empire Period and onward. There have been recent discoveries of terracotta tiles from the times of Chandraketugar and Mahasthangarh that shed further light on the architectural styles of the Shunga and Gupta periods. In addition to Palavi and Phamsana’s influence on architectural style, it is also closely linked to the Bhanja style of temples from the Mayrigan district of Orris. But the temples of Southern Bengal are a peculiarity due to its unparalleled roof style and closely linked to traditional style buildings covered with rice bushes in rural Bengal. Bishnupuri in the Southern District of Western Bengal Bankura has a series of temples that are built by the Malla Dynasty, are examples of this style. Most of these temples are covered on the outer surface with terracotta reliefs that contain a multitude of centuries-old materials that make these important to rebuild social fabric from these times. Temple structures contain pyramidal steep roofs that are informally called chala. For example, a pyramidal pyramid roof with an eight-page pyramid structure with the so-called “ath chala” or literally eight-page roof. Often there is more than one tower in the temple building. These are made of latex and tulle, leaving them under the mercy of the harsh weather conditions of Southern Bengal. Dakshineswar Kali Temple is one of Bhanja-style examples, while the smaller Shiva Shrines along the river bank are examples of the southern Bengal’s roof style, albeit in much smaller proportions.
Bungalow
The origin of the bungalow has its roots in the vernacular architecture of Bengal. The term baṅgalo, meaning “Bengali” and used elliptically for a “house in the Bengal style”. Such houses were traditionally small, only one storey and detached, and had a wide veranda were adapted by the British, who used them as houses for colonial administrators in summer retreats in the Himalayas and in compounds outside Indian cities. The Bungalow style houses are still very popular in the rural Bengal. In the rural areas of Bangladesh, it is often called “Bangla Ghar” (Bengali Style House). The main construction material used in modern time is corrugated steel sheets. Previously they had been constructed from wood, bamboo and a kind of straw called “Khar”. Khar was used in the roof of the Bungalow house and kept the house cold during hot summer days. Another roofing material for Bungalow houses has been red clay tiles.
The Genesis and Bungalow have its roots in the Bengal region. The term bayhgalo , meaning “Bengali” and used for a “Bengali Style House”. Such houses were traditionally very small, only one storey or detached and had a large veranda adopted by the British, who used them as homes for colonial administration in summer summer vacations in the Himalayan region and groups of cities outside of India. The style of Bungalow homes is very popular in rural Bengal. In rural Bangladesh , they are often called “Bangla Ghar” (bengal-style houses). The main building material used in modern times is the crumpled steel sheets. Previously they were built with wood, bamboo and a straw called “Khar”. Khari was used on the roofs of the Bungalow House and kept the house cool on the hot summer days. Another material for Bungalow’s homes were and red clay tiles.
Modernism
Art Deco influences continued in Chittagong during the 1950s. East Pakistan was the center of the Bengali modernist movement started by Muzharul Islam. Many renowned global architects worked in the region during the 1960s, including Louis Kahn, Richard Neutra, Stanley Tigerman, Paul Rudolph, Robert Boughey and Konstantinos Doxiadis. Louis Kahn designed the Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban, the preeminent symbol of modern Bangladeshi architecture. The cityscapes of modern Bengali cities are dominated by midsized skycrapers and often called concrete jungles. Architecture services form a significant part of urban economies in the region, with acclaimed architects such as Rafiq Azam.
In 2015, Marina Tabassum and Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury were declared winners of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for their mosque and community center designs respectively, which were inspired by the region’s ancient heritage.
Source From Wikipedia