Position
On the way from Thakurgaon district town to Panchagarh, three kilometers east of the place called Bhulli Hat, the mosque of Jinn is located on the side of the Bhully-Pachpir Hat road.
Traditional Fairy Tale!
Jinn fairies fly over this area on new moon nights. They then descended to the ground and began the construction of the mosque, but the dawn broke before the dome was finished, leaving the work unfinished. As a result, the beautiful mosque stands without a dome. It was built by jinns, so it is known as the Mosque of the Jinn to the locals.
The Builder!
It is known from history that the original residence of Meher Baks Sarkar was in the state of Bihar in India. After Nawab Sirajuddaula’s defeat in the Battle of Palashi, Meher Bux’s grandfather moved to Jalpaiguri with his family from Bihar. Later Meher Bax’s father Raj-e-Mohammed came to Thakurgaon sub-division Balia and gained prosperity by doing business.
Due to his good relations with the local zamindar, Raj-e-Mohammed married his son Meher Baks to the then zamindar’s daughter, Bibi Gulmati Nesha. Later, Gulmati Necha was nominated as the heir of her father’s zamindari. Gulmati Necha earned the title of Chaudhurani for timely delivery of her zamindari taxes to the British. Meher Baks Sarkar also came to be known as Chowdhury from that source. Although the zamindari was in the name of Gulmati Chaudhurani, it was practically ruled by Meher Baks.
During construction!
There is disagreement about the date of construction of the mosque. According to the date engraved on the mosque, the mosque was built in 1317 Bangabd means 1910 AD. Again, the grave of Meher Baks Chowdhury, the builder of the mosque, has his year of death engraved as 1317 Bangabd. However, according to local people and Meher Bux’s relatives, the construction of Balia Masjid started in the late 19th century and most of the mosque was completed by the time of Meher Bux’s death.
Construction History!
Zamindar Meher Baks Chowdhury planned to build a mosque in Ballia in the late 19th century. For this, architects were brought from Murshidabad to Agra in Delhi. The construction of this mosque, designed according to the Mughal architectural style, was very complicated and time-consuming. The sudden death of the chief architect stopped the construction of the mosque. Meher Baks resumed the construction of the mosque with the help of local artisans. But the local craftsmen failed to build the dome of the mosque. Meher Baks Chowdhury died in 1910. A few years later, the younger brother of Meher Baks again took the initiative to build the mosque. But, he also died before completing the construction work. As a result, the mosque stood without a dome for 100 years.
Finally, under the patronage of Tasrifa Khatun, the great-granddaughter of Meher Baks Chowdhury, and with the technical assistance of the Institute of Archeology, the renovation work of the Balia Mosque began in 2010. Taking the initiative to renovate this mosque, artists Kamruzzaman Swadhin and Zakirul Haque Chowdhury supervised the renovation work from start to finish. At the same time, the dome was constructed in a new way in the design of architect Syed Abu Sufian Kushal.
Characteristics!
The mosque is located in a rectangular complex measuring 62 feet 6 inches in east-west and 69 feet 2 inches north-south on a platform 5 feet 3 inches high from the plain. The rectangular complex is divided into three parts: an entrance with stairs, an open square, and moolabhaban or namazghar. Out of this, the main building is 25 feet 11 inches wide from east to west. The roof of the mosque is 17 feet high from the platform.
There are three domes and eight minarets of the same size on the roof of the mosque. Out of which the four minar of the four corners are large and the remaining four are small. The entire mosque, including the foundation, is built of lime-surki mortar and hand-burnt bricks. Although there is no decoration on the brick, various designs of urns, bells, dishes, bowls, amlaki, lotus etc. have been made by cutting bricks on the walls of the mosque.
