“NUTTEE MUSJEED,
“by some Europeans termed the China mosque, from the bricks of which it is built being ornamented with various colours. This building, however, has nothing of the mosque beyond some little resemblance in its external appearance, nor is there any thing within it corresponding with the internal appearance of the great Golden Mosque; it appears evidently intended for purposes of amusement. It is the most entire of any structure now remaining at Gaur. Its extreme length from east to west is about seventy-two feet, its breadth about fifty-four feet, and its height about seventy feet. The outer walls, nine feet in thickness, are formed of bricks, extremely small, not exceeding four inches in length, three in breadth, and one inch and a half in thickness; but these bricks are so well made, and the cement is so firm, that the building has almost the solidity of stone. The surface of these bricks is painted and glazed, yellow, white, green, and blue in alternate succession; and the whole appears to have been finished with a neatness approaching to finery. The east, the north, and the south sides have three doors, forming nine in the whole; on the west side it is closed. The arch of the middle door on each side is about eleven feet in height, the other two about nine feet high. The breadth is somewhat about six feet. On entering the east door, a partition wall presents itself, forming a space twelve feet in extent, and the whole breadth of the building. This marks the east as having been the front entrance, as this formed a kind of porch to the vestibule, in which probably servants remained.
“The space within this forms a beautiful room, about thirty-six feet square, the four walls closing above, and forming a majestic dome. The height of this spacious room we had no means of ascertaining exactly, but, from its appearance, it may be from forty to fifty feet. So spacious and lofty a room, without a pillar, beam, or rafter, is a real curiosity; and when the antiquity of the building, the smallness of the bricks which compose it, and its present high state of preservation are considered, it seems evident that the art of building, as far as durability is considered, was far better understood in Bengal formerly than is indicated now by any modern edifice in the metropolis of India. Are European science and skill completely distanced by the former knowledge of a nation deemed only half-civilized?
“THE SOUTH GATE
formed the southern boundary of the city; its majestic arch still remains, it is thirty-five feet wide; on each side is a piece of masonry sixty feet square, and in height nearly equal to the outside of the arch surmounting the gateway, which is somewhat better than sixty feet. The masonry is united both on the east and west side by a rampart of earth, which is also sixty feet high, and is covered with trees of various kinds. This rampart, however, would have formed but a feeble defence against an army of Europeans, whatever it might have been esteemed against an Indian army.
“Many mosques, and the remains of old buildings, as well as a great number of fine stone pillars which once supported splendid edifices, are to be seen entangled by jungle and high grass, completely covered up in some places, and in other places prostrate, the foundations having been excavated for bricks and stones. The towns of Malda, Rajmahal, and Moorshadabad have been supplied with building materials from Gaur, which to this day are continually carried to the populous adjacent towns and villages, to build native dwellings.
“In passing through so large an extent of that which was once a scene of human grandeur, nothing presents itself but these few remains; trees and grass now fill up the space, giving shelter to a variety of wild creatures; buffaloes, deer, wild hogs, monkeys, peacocks, and the common fowl, now become wild; the roar of the tiger, the cry of the peacock, the howls of the jackals, with the company of bats and troublesome insects, soon become familiar to those inhabiting the neighbourhood.”
Extracts from an old work on India.
‘India was first discovered by the Portuguese in 1497, at which time, and even at the commencement of the reign of the Emperor Akbar, in 1556, Gaur was a flourishing city.’