Tara Masjid, a great attraction in capital:Daily Sun

Bayazid Akter Tara Masjid (star mosque) is a part of national heritage of the country. The century-old majestic structure located at Armanitola in old part of Dhaka is a great attraction for art-loving people at home and abroad. When anybody enters the mosque through the main gate, he/she gets spellbound with the beauty of its architectural interior design. A big star-shaped fountain in front of t
he mosque with five domes has made it magnificent. The mosque is decorated with motifs of numerous sparkling stars and so it is named Tara Masjid. Its domes are covered with star-shaped clay tiles which glitter in the sunlight. A special technique called Chini Tikri has been used in decorating Tara Masjid. Mosaics with floral patterns, crescents, Arabic calligraphy writing are used in embellishing the historically significant mosque. Once, Tara Masjid had been inscribed with local currency notes except one taka note for its historical importance. In 1976, the then government introduced a new series of notes for illustrating the mosque. It is not clearly known when this mosque was built as there is no specific inscription in it. Even, history cannot properly tell the date of construction of the magnificent structure. According to Banglapedia, one Mirza Golam Pir, whose ancestors had come to Dhaka and settled in Mohalla Ale Abu Sayeed (now Armanitola), built the mosque. Mirza Golam Pir died in 1860 and hence the date of construction of the mosque may conveniently be placed in the first half of the 19th century. The unique feature of the mosque is its Mughal architectural style. The three- domed mosque had three mihrabs in alignment of three doorways. The prayer chamber was roofed with three domes. The central one is taller and larger than the two and it has a varied range of interior decorations. It is learnt that the mosque had been given facelift several times. In 1926, a local businessman brought some changes in the structure. But major changes were made during the tenure of HM Ershad in 1987. The three-domeTara Masjid had been turned into five-dome structure which also got five arched doorways instead of three as entrance to the historical mosque. Mufti Rashid Ahmed, a teacher of Urdu department at Dhaka University is the present Khatib of this mosque while Maulana Shahidul Islam is serving as its Imam. Md Tofazzal Hossain has been serving as Muajjin of the mosque for nearly three decades. Tofazzal, a witness to the extended version of Tara Masjid, told daily sun that extension work of the mosque was done in 1985 on the basis of its original design. A six-storey Madrasah was built a place adjacent to the mosque at that time, he added. Around 40 students are now receiving ‘Hafeji’ education. Besides, some 300 students are being given primary Arabic lessons in two shifts under the supervision of five teachers. He also said that people from different parts of the country and foreign tourists visit the mosque to have a glimpse of the architectural beauty and capture its photos. Additional deputy commissioner of Dhaka is the administrator as well as the chairman of the mosque committee while Jahangir Md Adel is its vice-president. The government allocates Tk 3 lakh every year for development of the mosque of historical mosque.