Built by Sikandar Shah, the second sultan of the Ilyas dynasty, the Adina mosque is one of the largest mosques to be built in the subcontinent and the only hypostyle mosque in Bengal. Located twenty kilometres North of the town of
Malda and along a major road leading to
north Bengal, the sultan probably built it as a visual proclamation of his victory over the Delhi ruler, Firuz Shah Tughluq. The mosque is mostly in ruins today following the damages sustained during the earthquakes in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
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Similar in plan to the Great Mosque of Damascus, it is a rectangular, hypostyle structure, with an open central courtyard. Externally it measures 524' x 322' (154.3 x 87m) with the longer side running north-south, while the courtyard measures 426'-6"x147'-7"(130 x 45m). The prayer hall is located to the west, and is divided into two symmetrical wings by a central nave (78'x 34' and 64' high) that was originally covered by a pointed barrel vault. The high central vaulted nave may be traced to Persian antecedents, Taq-i-Kisra, a pre-Muslim monument at Ctesiphon. The prayer hall is five aisles deep, while the north, south and east cloisters around the courtyard consist of triple aisles. In total, these aisles had 260 pillars and 387 domed bays. The interior of the courtyard is a continuous façade of 92 arches surmounted by a parapet, beyond which the domes of the bays can be seen.