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| Baradwari Mosque Gour |
Gour, near Malda town, West Bengal is also referred to as Gauda and Lakhnauti. It's origin can be traced back to the Buddhist Pala Dynasty in Bengal that rose in the 7th century AD and ruled for four centuries.
Gour, however rose to prominence in the 11th century under the Hindu Sena Dynasty. Not much archaeological evidence exits of these times and today what we see in Gour dates back to post 1198 when Gour fell to Bakhtiyar Khilji and that was followed by the foundation of Muslim rule in north-west Bengal. The Muslim Sultan shifted his capital from Gour to Pandua in 1350.
How to reach Malda:
Malda is very well connected from Kolkata. Overnight trains and AC buses are easily available. Shatabdi express is another option from Kolkata to Malda.
Where to stay:
There are quite a few hotels and tourist lodges in Malda town. You may check tripadvisor (
https://www.tripadvisor.in/SmartDeals-g1187926-Malda_Malda_District_West_Bengal-Hotel-Deals.html)
Both Gour (16 km south of Malda) and Pandua (15 km north of Malda) are places that you may want to visit if you like ancient architecture. We only did Gour during this trip. Even though quite a few monuments were not in their intact condition, I would say it was still worth the visit.
A word of caution, Malda town is extremely congested. So if you are looking for a quiet stay in Malda...that may not be possible:) But the outskirts are beautiful and green…mango trees and water bodies are in abundance.
There are a couple more places in Gour, that we visited, I will post about those in my next post.
Baradwari Mosque (AD 1526) , built by Sultan Nasrat Shah. It has 12 doors and therefore the name Baradwari.
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Baradwari Mosque |
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| Entrance to Baradwari Mosque |
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Firoz Minar (AD 1486-1489 ): Built by Saifuddin Firoz. The building is 25.60m high and the spiral staircase has 73 steps.
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| Banyan tree near Firoz Minar |
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| Firoz Minar Gour |
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(AD 1459-74) built by Barbak Shah. This was the main northern entrance to the fort of Gour.
