■ MOULVIBAZAR. Dec .11: Kamala-Ranir Dighi. Chhay-chhirl Dighi. Khojar Masjid (Mosque of Khoja) and the ruins of palace of the kings of Barshijura speak silently but impressively of the fact that Moulvibazar had a glorious past some day.

The 500-year-old "Khojar Masjid" is an historical object of pride and admiration for the people of Moulvibazar. It is located in the village of 'Goegarh' under Mustafapur UP of Moulvibazar Sadar thana.

Besides being a house of prayer It also served as a boundary post for the sultans of Bengal.

A stone inscription in’ the mosque says. ‘Khojar Masjid' was built during the reign of Shainsuddin Yousuf Shah, son of Barbak Shah who was one of the heirs to Sultan Shamsuddin Ilias Shah, the famous sultan of Bengal.

What is now greater Sylhet was once a part of Pragjyotish or Kamrup. The sultan of Bengal annexed this before the Mughuls came to India. ShAmsuddin Yousuf Shah was. appointed as the administrator of the Sylhet region by his father Sultan Barbak Shah. Yousuf Shah set up one of his

army camps in the village of Goegarh'. During his long stay here, he constructed a fort and a mosque rich in decorations of the sultani period. This mosque has long been known as Khojar Masjid' without any inkling as to who this Khoja’ was.

Well into the Mughul times , Shah Shuja, son of Emperor Shahjahan. was appointed the administrator of this region. Shuja decided to carry on with the camp at Goegarh'. Accordingly he excavated a pond popularly known as

Khojar Dighf on ten acres of land in front of the existing mosque and the fort.

Later, when a fratricidal conflict developed among the Mughal princes Shah Shuja fled to Arakan where he was killed by an enemy. The village of Goegarh declined and was for gotten. The fort and the mosque lay uncared for about 300 years.

At the beginning of the present century, human habitation started around 'Khojar Masid' and in 1937 it was renovated.

In 1988. the portico of the mosque was damaged. People of the locality, quite ignorant of the value of antiquity, decided to construct a new portico for

the mosque. Accordingly they collected huge sums from different sources. Including Taka 35 thousand from the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Reconstruction work was undertaken in a manner not honouring the original architecture of the monument.

Local elite and educated people then moved the author! ties of the National Museum at Dhaka for proper preservation of the mosque as a hallmark of Sultani architecture. The recon-

struction was ordered to be stopped. The then director general of the national museum Dr Enamul Haque visited "Khojar Masid" and assured the people that necessary steps would be taken for the preservation of the mosque. But nothing tangible has come from h(s pledges.

The walls and domes of the mosque have been affected by moisture resulting in cracks appearing all over its body. It is quite risky now to say prayers in the mosque. Local experts are of the view that the mosque requires an amount of over one lakh taka at the irtoment for its repair works as well as renovation.