Satkhira Correspondent
One of the unique examples of Muslim architecture in Bangladesh that still stands tall is the Prabajpur Shahi Mosque located in Mathureshpur Union of Kaliganj Upazila of Satkhira, located in the southwestern part of the country. The mosque is estimated to have been built in the then Dhuliapur Pargana in 1693 AD during the reign of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.

According to archaeologists, on May 24, 1693 AD in 1104 AH, Emperor Aurangzeb ordered the construction of a mosque in Subedar Parbaj Khan for the Muslim soldiers he guarded in this area to offer five daily prayers. After receiving this order, he built a single-domed mosque. The village where his soldiers lived was named Prabajpur village after him. Later, the mosque was named Prabajpur Shahi Mosque after him.

A popular legend about this mosque is that the Jinns cleared the jungle and built the mosque overnight. There is also a legend that if anyone comes to this mosque and makes a vow, it will not go in vain.

During the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb, his Faujdar Nawab Nurullah Khan donated 50 bighas of land in Lakhera in the name of this mosque. But the current mosque occupies only 3 acres of land.

The exterior of this beautiful mosque is 52 feet 5 inches long and 39 feet 8 inches wide. Inside the mosque, there is a square prayer space of 21 feet 6 inches. The walls of the mosque are 5 feet 9 inches to 7 feet wide. And the main door of the mosque is 4 feet 7 inches wide. The mosque had a verandah of 6 feet 9 inches wide, which is no longer there. Although the mosque had a total of 10 doors, at present a thin wall has been built at the bottom of the door to form a window. There are three decorated arches on the western wall of the mosque. The middle arch is slightly enlarged according to the traditional custom and is larger than the two adjacent ones. Its decorations are beautiful. There is an Eidgah adjacent to the mosque.

Many tourists from home and abroad still flock there to see the mosque. You can reach Kaliganj upazila by bus or motorcycle from any part of the country after reaching Satkhira. Then you can take a van from Kaliganj’s Fultala intersection and pass the school field above Paukhali Bazar to reach Prabajpur Shahi Jame Mosque.