Bengal Sultanate

Bengal was gradually absorbed into the Delhi Sultanate during the 1200s. It began with Bakhtiar Khilji's conquest of Gauda between 1202 and 1204 during the reign of Muhammad of Ghor. After the assassination of Bakhtiar Khalji by his own officer Ali Mardan in 1206, Bengal was administered by various Maliks belonging to the Khalji tribe (except a brief interregnum by Ali Mardan himself) till Delhi Sultan Iltutmish sent forces under his son, Nasir-ud-din Mahmud, to bring Bengal under the direct control of the Delhi Sultans.[13] Iltutmish declared Bengal as a province of Delhi in 1225. The Delhi Sultans attempted to govern Bengal through appointed governors, however Delhi could not succeed given the considerable overland distance with Bengal. Ambitious governors rebelled and ruled as independent rulers until being suppressed militarily by the Delhi Sultanate. However, there were capable rulers among the rebels, including Yuzbak Shah (1257), Tughral Khan (1271–1282), and Shamsuddin Firoz Shah (1301–1322). The latter achieved the Conquest of Sylhet and established a strong administration in eastern and south-western Bengal. In 1325, the Delhi Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq reorganized the province into three administrative regions, with Sonargaon ruling eastern Bengal; Gauda ruling northern Bengal; and Satgaon ruling southern Bengal. Even this arrangement broke down. By 1338, the three administrative regions had separatist Sultans, including Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah in Sonargaon; Alauddin Ali Shah in Gauda, and Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah in Satgaon.[14] Fakhruddin conquered Chittagong in 1340 and was succeeded by his son Ikhtiyaruddin Ghazi Shah in 1349. Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah (or just Ilyas Shah) defeated Alauddin Ali Shah and secured control of Gauda. He then defeated Ikhtiyaruddin of Sonargaon. By 1352, Ilyas Shah emerged victorious among the Bengali triad.

Ruins of Adina Mosque, the largest mosque in the Indian subcontinent, in Pandua, the first capital of the Bengal Sultanate.

The 14th-century tomb of Sultan Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah in Sonargaon

Ilyas Shah established his capital in Pandua. He unified the delta of Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers into the Sultanate of Bengal. Ilyas Shah waged wars and raids against several city-states and kingdoms in the eastern subcontinent. He conquered eastern Bengal and northern Bihar. He led the first Muslim army into Nepal, raided the Kathmandu Valley, and returned to Bengal with treasures.[15] He controlled an area stretching from Assam in the east to Varanasi in the west.[14] In 1353, Ilyas Shah was defeated by Delhi Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq in the Siege of Ekdala Fort during the Bengal Sultanate-Delhi Sultanate War. Bengal agreed to pay a tribute to the Delhi Sultan. Despite losing control of many conquered areas, Ilyas Shah remained in firm control of Bengal.[14]

Ilyas Shah founded the Indo-Turkic Ilyas Shahi dynasty which ruled Bengal for fifteen decades. His son and successor Sikandar Shah defeated Delhi Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq during the second Siege of Ekdala Fort in 1359. A peace treaty was signed between Delhi and Bengal, with the former recognizing the independence of the latter. Firuz Shah Tughluq gave a golden crown estimated to be worth 80,000 taka to Sikandar Shah. The peace treaty ensured Bengal's independence for two centuries.[16]

Sikandar Shah's reign lasted for three decades. The Adina Mosque was built during his reign. The mosque's design was based on the Great Mosque of Damascus- a style used during the introduction of Islam in new areas. During this time, much of the agricultural land was controlled by Hindu zamindars, which caused tensions with Muslim taluqdars.[17]

Bengal became the eastern frontier kingdom among medieval Islamic states.[18] In the 14th-century, Islamic kingdoms stretched from Muslim Spain in the west to the Indian subcontinent in the east. The Islamic kingdoms had multiethnic elites. Persian and Arabic were used alongside local languages. Persian was used as a diplomatic and commercial language. Arabic was the liturgical language of the clergy. In Bengal, the Bengali language became a court language and was the main vernacular language under Muslim rule.[19]

The third Sultan Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah began expanding Bengal's influence abroad. He began to send embassies to Ming China, which continued as a tradition during the reigns of his successors. Ghiyasuddin also sponsored construction projects in Arabia. He exchanged letters and poetry with the Persian poet Hafez.[20] The Bengal Sultans pledged nominal allegiance to the Abbasid Caliphate in Cairo. The coins of the Bengal Sultans often bore the name of the contemporary Abbasid Caliph.[21] Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah held his court in the central Bengali city of Sonargaon, in addition to Pandua. The travel accounts of Chinese envoys state that the Sultan lived in a palace near the river port of Sonargaon. The river port had shipping links to China, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. In 1406, Ma Huan found Sonargaon as a large metropolis. Other Chinese envoys provided descriptions of a fortified walled city. Sonargaon was a center of Sufi education and Persian literature. Sultan Ghiyasuddin invited Hafez to settle in Sonargaon. The institutions founded by Abu Tawwama during the Delhi Sultanate were maintained by his successors in the Bengal Sultanate, including the Sufi preachers Saiyid Ibrahim Danishmand, Saiyid Arif Billah Muhammad Kamel, Saiyid Muhammad Yusuf and others.[22]

The Sixty Dome Mosque is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Map of Asia in 1415 showing Bengal and other regional states

The Indian subcontinent in 1525, with Bengal in the east

During the early 15th-century, the Ilyas Shahi rule was challenged by Raja Ganesha, a powerful Hindu landowner, who managed to place his son (a convert to Islam), Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah, on the throne. Jalaluddin had a relatively short-lived but significant reign, during which he helped an Arakanese king to achieve the Reconquest of Arakan. Jalaluddin established control over Fatehabad.[23] Jalaluddin also promoted more native Bengali elements into the architecture and governance of the sultanate. Jalaluddin was initially loyal to the Abbasid Caliph but later declared himself as the Caliph in a sign of Bengali Muslim independence.[24] The Ilyas Shahi dynasty was restored in 1432.

Nine kings ruled Bengal from Pandua over the course of ten decades. They built palaces, forts, bridges, mosques, and mausoleums.[25] Chinese envoy Ma Huan described the city at the time in his travel accounts, which state that "the city walls are very imposing, the bazaars well-arranged, the shops side by side, the pillars in orderly rows, they are full of every kind of goods". Pandua was an export center for cloth and wine. At least six varieties of fine muslin and four types of wine were found in Pandua. High-quality paper was produced from the bark of Pandua's mulberry trees.[26] Sultan Mahmud Shah of Bengal shifted the capital from Pandua to Gaur in 1450. One of the probable reasons behind the move was a change in the course of nearby rivers.[27]

The reign of Mahmud Shah witnessed greater control over the Sundarbans. The governor of the Sundarbans, Khan Jahan Ali, built the mint town of Khalifatabad.[28] Like many other officials, Khan Jahan had settled in Bengal after Timur's sack of Delhi. During the reign of Rukunuddin Barbak Shah, the Kingdom of Mrauk U conquered Chittagong. The late 1480s saw four usurper Sultans from the Abyssinian mercenary corps. Tensions between different Muslim communities often affected the sultanate.[17]

Alauddin Hussain Shah gained control of Bengal in 1494 when he was prime minister. He brought end to a period of instability. As Sultan, Hussain Shah ruled till 1519. The dynasty he founded reigned till 1538. Muslims and Hindus jointly served in the royal administration during the Hussain Shahi dynasty. This era is often regarded as the golden age of the Bengal Sultanate, in which Bengali territory included areas of Arakan, Orissa, Tripura, and Assam.[17] Alauddin Hussain Shah conquered large parts of Assam during the Bengal Sultanate-Kamata Kingdom War. He overthrew the Hindu Khen dynasty. He also restored Bengali sovereignty in Chittagong and northern Arakan after the Bengal Sultanate–Kingdom of Mrauk U War of 1512–1516. Hussain Shah minted coins with the proclamation "conqueror of Kamrupa, Kamata, Jajnagar and Orissa".[29] According to an inscription in Sonargaon from 1513, Hussain Shah annexed large parts of the Twipra Kingdom.[30] The Pratapgarh Kingdom came under Bengali suzerainty.[31][32] Hussain Shah also waged several campaigns against the Gajapati rulers of Orissa and secured control of northern Orissa.[30] Hussain Shah extended Bengali territory in the west beyond Bihar, up to Saran in Jaunpur. The Sultan of Jaunpur took refuge in Bengal after an invasion by the Lodi dynasty of Delhi. The Delhi Sultan attacked Bengal in pursuit of the Jaunpur Sultan. Unable to make headway, the Delhi Sultan withdrew after concluding a peace treaty with Bengal.[33]

Embassies from Portuguese India frequented Bengal after the landing of Vasco Da Gama in the principality of Calicut.[34] Individual Portuguese merchants are recorded to have lived in the Bengal Sultanate's capital of Gaur. Portuguese politics played out in Gaur as a reflection of contradictions in contemporary Portugal.[34] The Portuguese provided vivid descriptions of Gaur. They compared the affluence of Gaur with Lisbon. The city included a citadel, a royal palace and durbar, mosques, houses for the rich, and bustling bazaars. Portuguese historian Castenhada de Lopez described the houses of Gaur as being one-storeyed with ornamental floor tiles, courtyards, and gardens. Gaur was the center of regional politics. The Sultan of Bengal gave permission for establishing the Portuguese settlement in Chittagong. During the period of the Iberian Union, there was no official Portuguese sovereignty over Chittagong. The Portuguese trading post was dominated by pirates who allied with the Arakanese against Bengal.

Babur crossing the Son River. The river was the western boundary of the Bengal Sultanate during the Karrani dynasty

The absorption of Bengal into the Mughal Empire was a gradual process. It began with the defeat of Bengal forces under Sultan Nasiruddin Nasrat Shah by the first Mughal ruler Babur at the Battle of Ghaghra. The second Mughal ruler Humayun occupied the Bengal capital of Gaur during the invasion of Sher Shah Suri against both the Mughals and Bengal Sultans. Humayun later took refuge in the Safavid Empire in Persia. Sher Shah Suri succeeded in conquering Bengal and began renovating the Grand Trunk Road.[35] The Suri government appointed successive governors to administer Bengal. The third governor Muhammad Khan Sur declared independence after the death of Islam Shah Suri. Muhammad Khan ended the interrupting period of Delhi's rule and re-established the Bengal Sultanate.

The Pashtun Karrani dynasty was the last ruling dynasty of the sultanate. According to the Riyaz-us-Salatin, Sultan Sulaiman Khan Karrani shifted the capital from Gaur to Tanda in 1565.[36] Sulaiman Khan Karrani annexed large parts of Orissa. During his reign, the Bengal Sultanate's territory extended from Koch Bihar in the north to Puri in the south and from the Son River in the west to the Brahmaputra River in the east. The Mughals became determined to bring an end to the expansionism of the Bengal Sultanate; while eager to absorb the Bengal region for its riches. The Battle of Tukaroi in Orissa saw Mughal forces led by Akbar overwhelm the Bengal Sultanate's forces led by the last Sultan Daud Khan Karrani, resulting in the Treaty of Cuttack. Mughal rule formally began with the Battle of Raj Mahal when the last reigning Sultan of Bengal was defeated by the forces of Akbar. The Mughal province of Bengal Subah was created. The eastern deltaic Bhati region remained outside of Mughal control until being absorbed in the early 17th-century. The delta was controlled by a confederation of twelve aristocrats of the former sultanate, who became known as the Twelve Bhuiyans. Their leader was Isa Khan, a former nobleman of the sultanate. The confederation was made up of petty kingdoms. The Mughal government eventually suppressed the remnants of the sultanate in the Bhati area and brought all of Bengal under full Mughal control.

Extent of the Bengal Sultanate under Sultan Alauddin Hussain Shah in 1500

The Mint Towns were an important feature of the Bengal Sultanate. The towns included royal capitals and provincial capitals where Taka coins were minted. The coins illustrate the economy, distribution of administrative centres, and the rise and fall of urban centres within the Bengal Sultanate. With the expansion of the empire, the number of mint towns increased gradually. The following is a partial listing of Mint Towns.[39]

Vassal states were a number of tributary states and protectorates on the periphery of the Bengal Sultanate under the suzerainty of the Sultan of Bengal. Direct control was not established over these territories for various reasons. Vassal states had Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist rulers. The following illustrates the most notable vassal states.

Coinage from Arakan during its vassalage to the Bengal Sultanate

In the southeast, Arakan was a prominent vassal of the Bengal Sultanate. In 1430, the Bengal Sultanate restored the Arakanese throne in Mrauk U after driving out Burmese invaders who came from Bagan. Arakan paid tributes to the Sultan of Bengal for a sustained period, with the timeframe ranging between estimates of a century or a few decades.[40][6] Arakanese rulers replicated the Sultan's governing techniques, including adopting the title of Shah and minting coins in Arabic and Bengali inscriptions. A close cultural and commercial relationship developed across the Bay of Bengal.[41] Eventually, Arakan asserted its independence. The Kingdom of Mrauk U became a formidable coastal power.

Coinage from Chandradwip, a vassal of the Bengal Sultanate

In southern Bengal, the island of Chandradwip hosted remnants of the pre-Islamic Hindu Deva dynasty. The kingdom was a vassal state of the Bengal Sultanate until the reign of the Hussain Shahi dynasty, when it was formally annexed by the sultanate.[42][43]

In the northeastern Barak Valley, the ruler Bazid of the Pratapgarh Kingdom declared himself as a Sultan on par with the Bengali Sultan. This invited the retribution of Alauddin Hussain Shah, who dispatched Surwar Khan (a convert to Islam from Hinduism) to suppress the newly formed sultanate in Pratapgarh. Bazid was defeated and agreed to pay a tribute to the Sultan of Bengal. Bazid also relinquished his claims over Sylhet.[44][45]

In the east, Tripura was vital to Bengal for the supply of gold, silver and other commodities. Tripura had coarse gold mines and mountain trade networks linked to the Far East. In 1464, the Sultan of Bengal helped Ratna Manikya I assume the Tripuri throne. Tripura was a prominent vassal of Bengal.[40][46][47]

In the southwest, Orissa was prominent in the military history of the Bengal Sultanate. The first Bengali Sultan Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah defeated the rulers of Orissa and extended his realm up to Chilika Lake. He raided Jajpur and Cuttack. Ilyas Shah returned to Bengal with plunders from Orissa, including 44 elephants.[48] During the reign of Alauddin Hussain Shah, Orissa was a vassal state of Bengal.[40][49] Northern Orissa was directly ruled by Bengal. During the Karrani dynasty, Orissa was the scene of the Battle of Tukaroi and the Treaty of Cuttack between the Mughals and Bengal Sultanate in 1575.

Sultan Daud Khan Karrani receives a robe of honour from Mughal general Munim Khan

The Sultans had a well-organised army, including cavalry, artillery, infantry and war elephants; and a navy. Due to the riverine geography and climate, it was not feasible to use cavalry throughout the year in Bengal. The cavalry was probably the weakest component of the Bengal Sultanate's army, as the horses had to be imported from foreign countries. The artillery was an important section. Portuguese historian João de Barros opined that the military supremacy of Bengal over Arakan and Tripura was due to its efficient artillery. The artillery used cannons and guns of various sizes.[50] The paiks formed the vital part of the Bengal infantry during this period. There were occasions when the paiks also tackled political situations. The particular battle array of the foot-soldiers who used bows, arrows and guns attracted the attention of Babur.[50]

War elephants played an important part in the Bengal army. Apart from carrying war materials, elephants were also used for the movement of the armed personnel. In riverine Bengal the usefulness of elephants, though very slow, could not be minimised. The navy was of prime necessity in riverine Bengal. In fact, the cavalry could ensure the hold over this country for a period of six months whereas the boats backed by the paiks could command supremacy over the other half of the year. Since the time of Iwaz Khalji, who first organised a naval force in Islamic Bengal, the war boats played an important role in the political affairs of the country. The chief of the admiralty had various responsibilities, including shipbuilding, river transport, to fit out strong boats for transporting war elephants; to recruit seamen; to patrol the rivers and to collect tolls at ghats. The efficiency of the navy eroded during the Hussain Shahi dynasty. The Sultans also built forts, including temporary mud walled forts.[50]

Akbar leads his army into battle against Daud Khan Karrani, the last Sultan of Bengal

In 1353, the Sultan of Delhi attacked the newly formed Bengal Sultanate. After the siege of Ekdala Fort, Bengal agreed to pay a tribute to the Sultan of Delhi. In 1359, Delhi again invaded Bengal after the previous peace treaty collapsed. However, negotiations ultimately resulted in a new treaty in which Delhi recognized the independence of Bengal.[14] The Bengal Sultans also received support from South Indian allies. During the 16th century, the Lodi dynasty of Delhi again attacked Bengal in pursuit of the Sultan of Jaunpur. The Lodis eventually agreed to a peace treaty with Bengal.

The Jaunpur Sultanate attacked Bengal during the 15th-century. With diplomatic help from Ming China and the Timurid ruler of Herat, Bengal fended off the Jaunpuri invasion.[51][52]

The Brahmaputra Valley was often subjected to Bengali invasions. During the Hussain Shahi dynasty, Bengali control over Assam reached its zenith. Alauddin Hussain Shah overthrew the Hindu Khen dynasty during a war against the Kamata Kingdom. Baro-Bhuyans overthrew the local administrations within a few years and restored local rule.

The Bengal Sultanate defeated Burmese forces in Arakan and restored the Arakanese throne in 1430. Later, Bengal and Arakan fought several wars for control of Chittagong. Arakan asserted its independence as a coastal power. During the Hussain Shahi dynasty, Bengali sovereignty was restored in Chittagong and northern Arakan. However, the Arakanese allied with Portuguese pirates to reduce Bengali control over Chittagong.

Bengal was overwhelmed during the pan-Indian invasion of Sher Shah Suri and became part of the Suri Empire. The invasion prompted the Mughal Empire to occupy parts of Bengal. Both the Mughals and Bengal Sultanate were overrun by the Suri forces. Bengal regained its independence after Suri governors rebelled and re-established the sultanate.

The first Mughal emperor Babur turned his sights on Bengal after the Battle of Panipat in 1526. At the Battle of Ghaghra in 1529, Bengal reached a peace treaty with Babur. During the invasion of Sher Shah Suri, the second Mughal emperor Humayun occupied Gaur. The third Mughal emperor Akbar launched a war against Bengal at the Battle of Tukaroi in 1575. Akbar finally defeated the last Sultan of Bengal at the Battle of Raj Mahal in 1576.

A Bengali Persian manuscript showing Alexander sharing his throne with Queen Nushabah. The scene is based on Nizami Ganjavi's Iskandar Nama (Book of Alexander). The manuscript was published by Sultan Nusrat Shah who reigned between 1519 and 1538. (British Library)

Muslim poets were writing in the Bengali language by the 15th century. By the turn of the 16th century, a vernacular literature based on concepts of Sufism and Islamic cosmology flourished in the region. Bengali Muslim mystic literature was one of the most original in Islamic India.[60]

And with the three washers [cups of wine], this dispute is going on.

All the parrots [poets] of India have fallen into a sugar shattering situation (become excited)

That this Persian candy [ode], to Bangalah [Bengal] is going on.

-An excerpt of a poem jointly penned by Hafez and Sultan Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah in the 14th century.[83]

With Persian as an official language, Bengal witnessed an influx of Persian scholars, lawyers, teachers and clerics. It was the preferred language of the aristocracy and the Sufis. Thousands of Persian books and manuscripts were published in Bengal. The earliest Persian work compiled in Bengal was a translation of Amrtakunda from Sanskrit by Qadi Ruknu'd-Din Abu Hamid Muhammad bin Muhammad al-'Amidi of Samarqand, a famous Hanafi jurist and Sufi. During the reign of Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah, the city of Sonargaon became an important centre of Persian literature, with many publications of prose and poetry. The period is described as the "golden age of Persian literature in Bengal". Its stature is illustrated by the Sultan's own correspondence with the Persian poet Hafez. When the Sultan invited Hafez to complete an incomplete ghazal by the ruler, the renowned poet responded by acknowledging the grandeur of the king's court and the literary quality of Bengali-Persian poetry.[84]

Manuscript paintings depict the fashion and architecture of the Bengal Sultanate. Persian manuscripts with paintings are a key artistic hallmark of the Bengal Sultanate. One of the best-known examples of this heritage is the Sharafnama published by Sultan Nusrat Shah in the middle of the 16th-century. It includes epic poetry by Nizami Ganjavi about the conquests of Alexander the Great.[85][86]

In the 15th century, the Sufi poet Nur Qutb Alam pioneered Bengali Muslim poetry by establishing the Dobhashi tradition, which saw poems written half in Persian and half in colloquial Bengali. The invocation tradition saw Islamic figures replacing the invocation of Hindu gods and goddesses in Bengali texts. The literary romantic tradition saw poems by Shah Muhammad Sagir on Yusuf and Zulaikha, as well as works of Bahram Khan and Sabirid Khan. The Dobhashi culture featured the use of Arabic and Persian words in Bengali texts to illustrate Muslim stories. Epic poetry included Nabibangsha by Syed Sultan, Janganama by Abdul Hakim and Rasul Bijay by Shah Barid. Sufi literature flourished with a dominant theme of cosmology. Bengali Muslim writers produced translations of numerous Arabic and Persian works, including the Thousand and One Nights and the Shahnameh.[87][88]

A majority of the Bengal Sultanate's mint towns and surviving structures are found in Bangladesh. These structures have been studied in the book Sultans and Mosques: The Early Muslim Architecture of Bangladesh by Perween Hasan, who completed her PhD at Harvard University and has taught Islamic history and culture at the University of Dhaka.[89][90] The Indian state of West Bengal is home to two of the sultanate's former capitals Gaur and Pandua, as well as several notable structures including a watchtower, fortified walls and mausolea. The oldest mosque in the Indian state of Assam dates from the Bengal Sultanate. A 15th-century sultanate-era mosque lies in ruins and covered with vegetation in Myanmar's Rakhine State.[91]

Cities in the Bengal Sultanate had stately medieval architecture, particularly in the royal capitals of Gaur and Pandua. In 1500, the royal capital of Gaur had the fifth-largest urban population in the world after Beijing, Vijayanagara, Cairo and Canton. It had a population of 200,000 (at the time, the global population is estimated to have ranged between 400 and 500 million).[10][92][93][94] The Portuguese historian Castenhada de Lopez described houses in Gaur as being one-storeyed with ornamental floor tiles, courtyards and gardens. The city had a citadel, durbar, watchtowers, canals, bridges, large gateways, and a city wall.[95] The royal palace was divided into three compartments. The first compartment was the royal court. The second was the living quarter of the Sultan. The third was the harem. A high wall enclosed the palace. A moat surrounded the palace on three sides and was connected to the Ganges. The city of Pandua developed from a small hamlet into a military garrison. It included imperial mosques and mausolea. Urban architecture in the Bengal Sultanate was based on Arab, Bengali, Persian, Indo-Turkish, and Byzantine influences. A glimpse of houses in the Bengal Sultanate can be seen in the Iskandar Nama (Book of Alexander) published by Sultan Nusrat Shah.[85] There were significant indigenous developments. The Bengal roofs began appearing in concrete forms during the 15th-century. These roofs were later widely replicated in the Mughal Empire and the Rajput kingdoms of the northwestern Indian subcontinent.

• Urban architecture in the Bengal Sultanate
• 
  Dakhil Doorway
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  Baisgazi Wall was a city wall
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  The Firoz Minar was a watchtower
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  Fading enameled bricks on Gumti Gate

According to Perween Hasan in a book edited by Oleg Grabar, the mosques of the Bengal Sultanate have several common features, including pointed arches, multiple mihrabs, engaged corner towers, and terracotta and stone decoration.[85] In particular, the art of the mihrab is meticulous and unique to Bengal's mosque architecture.[96] Mosques were either rectangular and multi-domed or square and single-domed. The large number of mosques built during the Bengal Sultanate indicates the rapidity with which the local population converted to Islam. The period between 1450 and 1550 was an intensive mosque building era. These mosques dotted the countryside, ranged from small to medium sizes and were used for daily devotion. Ponds were often located beside a mosque. Arabic inscriptions in the mosques often include the name of the patron or builder. The most commonly cited verse from the Quran in inscriptions was Surah 72 (Al-Jinn).[85] The buildings were made of brick or stone. The brick mosque with terracotta decoration represented a grand structure in the Bengal Sultanate. They were often the gift of a wealthy patron and the fruit of extraordinary effort, which would not be found in every Muslim neighborhood.[85] Mosques were built across the length and breadth of the Bengal Sultanate. The highest concentration of mosques from the Bengal Sultanate can be found in the North Bengal regions of Bangladesh and Indian West Bengal. A mosque city developed near the southwestern Bengali Sundarbans forest as a result of the patronization of Governor Khan Jahan Ali. In 1985, UNESCO designated the city as a World Heritage Site.[97] In central areas, the Pathrail Mosque in Faridpur is one of the best-preserved sultanate-era structures. In the northeast, the Shankarpasha Shahi Masjid in Sylhet is a well-preserved structure of the Bengal Sultanate. In the northeastern Indian state of Assam, the Panbari Mosque was built during the reign of Sultan Alauddin Hussain Shah. Other mosques can be found in coastal areas of West Bengal and parts of Bihar, such as the Sayed Jamaluddin Mosque. In the southeast, the Santikan Mosque (built in the 1430s) stands in ruins in Rakhine State (formerly Arakan) of Myanmar (formerly Burma).[98]

Imperial mosques had an in-built throne for the Sultan. These thrones are termed as Badshah-e-Takht (King's Throne). The Sultans sat on the elevated throne and addressed his subjects below. The Sultans also administered justice and managed government affairs while sitting on these thrones. Mosques served as royal courts.[96] Mosques across the Bengal Sultanate had these thrones. The Sultans traveled from one town to another and hosted royal court activities in mosques with a Badshah-e-Takht. The Badshah-e-Takht in Kusumba Mosque is heavily decorated with a small intrinsically-designed mihrab. The Adina Mosque has one of the largest royal galleries in the Indian subcontinent.[96]

• Mosque architecture in the Bengal Sultanate
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  Badshah-e-Takht in Adina Mosque
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  Multiple mihrabs in Darasbari Mosque
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  Pointed arches and a Bengal roof in Choto Sona Mosque
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  Engaged corner tower in Nine Dome Mosque
• 
  Terracotta arabesque of Khania Dighi Mosque

Mausoleums of the Bengal Sultanate are an important architectural hallmark. Initially, sarcophagi were erected based on Iranian models, such as the Tomb of Cyrus. Sarcophagi would include mihrabs and arches resembling the architecture in Adina Mosque. For example, the tomb of Sultan Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah in Sonargaon has features similar to the architecture of Adina Mosque built by his father Sultan Sikandar Shah. An indigenous Islamic mausolea style developed with the Eklakhi Mausoleum, which is the royal tomb chamber of Sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah. Other mausolea, such as the Tomb of Fateh Khan in Gaur, featured a Bengal roof.[99]

• Tomb architecture in the Bengal Sultanate
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  Eklakhi Mausoleum in Pandua
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  Bengal roof on the Tomb of Fateh Khan in Gaur
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  Tombs of Choto Sona Mosque
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  Cemetery of Bagha Mosque

The architecture of the Bengal Sultanate has influenced modern architecture in Bangladesh. The sultanate era inspired the Baitur Rauf Mosque, which won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2016.[100]