Mughal Tahakhana

Mughal Tahakhana
মোঘল তাহখানা
Front view of Mughal Tahakhana
General information
Architectural style	Gauḍa
Location	Choto Sona Mosque
Address	Shibganj Upazila, Chapai Nawabganj District
Town or city	Rajshahi
Country	Bangladesh
Coordinates	24°49′04″N 88°08′14″E / 24.8177°N 88.1373°E / 24.8177; 88.1373
Owner	Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh
Technical details
Floor count	1
Known for	Palace of Shah Shuja
Other information
Number of rooms	1

Mughal Tahakhana or Shah Shuja Tahakhana is a three storied building known as Tahakhana^[1] (Bengali: তাহখানা, Persian: تاهخانا /ˌtɑːhɑːkɑːnɑː/), means cold building or palace. The historical Tahakhana is located at the Gauḍa (region) in Firozpur area in the west of a big pond. It is 15 km from Chapai Nawabganj District in Shahbajpur Union at Shibganj Upazila.^[2]

History[edit]

Subahdar of Bengal, Shah Shuja founded this palace as a 'Temperature Control Unit' in honour of his Murshed Shah Syed Niyamatullah, mainly for comfort in winter. Son of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, Shah Shuja founded this palace between 1619 and 1658 (or 1639–1660).^[3] There is a saying that, when he came to meet with Murshed used the middle wider room.^[4] A lot of unknown graves inside the 'Tahakhana Complex' considered as companions or Khadems of Shah Syed Niyamatullah.

• 
  Tahakhana carved artistry
• 
  Tahakhana's ancient column

Structure[edit]

Ancient architecture like Gauḍa is rarely found except Tahakhana. Her ceiling and partition are coagulated on the beam by concrete casting. The Mosque and Tahakhana are on the lake name 'Dafe-ul-Balah'. Two stare cases are sank into the lake. Two more structures are on the north west side of the palace, nearer one is a three domed mosque and another one is one domed tomb with bolted veranda. All the buildings are founded by the same time for a specific purpose and considered as a complex unit. Main materiel of the building is brick. Black stone is used for the threshold and wooden vim used for plain roof. The building seems to be single storied from the west side but assumed double storied from the east side, extended by the rooms directly raised the archway from the lake. A hammam is in the west of the building supplied water from an octagonal reservoir. A small family mosque is in the north and at its back side an open room which connected with an octagonal tower. This tower possibly used for contemplation. This octagonal tower balanced the complex. The palace is plastered and engraved by the crafts following Mughal architecture.

Gallery[edit]

• 
  Three domed Shah Syed Niyamatullah Mosque
• 
  Three domed Shah Syed Niyamatullah Mosque
• 
  Shah Syed Niyamatullah Grave
• 
  Unknown graves besides Shah Syed Niyamatullah Grave
• 
  Well inside Tahakhana

See also[edit]

• List of archaeological sites in Bangladesh

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Tahkhana Complex