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The Eklakhi, the massive one-domed brick tomb of Jalal al-Din Shah, and of his wife and his son Ahmad Shah (1389-96).

Inscribed below: ‘Padshaka Musgid near Malda.’

357 by 455 mm.

Watercolour of the Eklakhi tomb at Pandua from 'Views by Seeta Ram from Malda to Gunga Pursaad Vol. II' produced for Lord Moira, afterwards the Marquess of Hastings, by Sita Ram between 1817-21. Marquess of Hastings, the Governor-General of Bengal and the Commander-in-Chief (r.1813-23), was accompanied by artist Sita Ram (flourished c.1810-22) to illustrate his expedition to Bengal in 1817 and his convalescent tour in the Rajmahal Hills in the winter of 1820-21.

Idealised view of the Eklakhi, the massive one-domed brick tomb of Jalal al-Din Shah, and of his wife and his son Ahmad Shah (r.1432-36). Pandua, near Gaur in the Malda district of Bengal, was a centre of provincial Islamic culture, reaching its apogee when it supplanted Gaur as capital of Bengal from 1342 till the beginning of the 15th century. The early 15th century Eklakhi Mausoleum in Pandua is thought to be that of Sultan Jalal al din Muhammad Shah (r.1414-1432) and is the first building to reveal some of the characteristic features of later Sultanate architecture in Bengal. The square brick tomb is massive, surmounted by a plain dome and decorated with carved brick. Each of its four sides is pierced with a stone portal derived from Hindu forms. The interior is octagonal and crowned with a ribbed dome carried on eight squinches. There are three tombs within.