It was mainly a bird watching trip. We have started our walking from the Narsingdi town (নরসিংদী টাউন) and our destination was this Atkandi Neelkuthi Mosque (আটকান্দি নীলকুঠি মসজিদ). After a walk of more than 5 hours we have reached near to this mosque. Well, we were walking slowly and observing birds on they way. So actually its not a 5 hours walking distance from the main town.
Probably this mosque is also known as Atkandi Kuthibari Mosque (আটকান্দি কুঠিবাড়ি মসজিদ). I do not know much about this mosque. I was surfing into google map and found someone has uploaded a photo of this mosque. So I have picked the GPS coordinate from there and made a plan to visit this. And as a bonus I have added the bird watching with this.
It is a small mosque having a rectangular shape. It doesn’t seem to be a much older mosque after observing the architecture, build style, and decoration (but I can be wrong!). This mosque has total 8 domes at the top in two rows. At the first row it has 3 domes. Middle one is larger and other twos are slightly smaller than the middle one. At second row it has total five domes and all are smaller than the first row domes. Under each of the domes at second row it has a gate to enter inside the veranda of the mosque. From the veranda there is another gate available that leads inside the mosque.
I do not know about the build date of the mosque, or the builder of the mosque. But this site says the builder is someone named Maulana Alim Uddin (মাওলানা আলীম উদ্দিন). And it was probably at 16th century. But I don’t believe this. This can not be a 16th century mosque.
There was an oppressive indigo planter here that time named Dewan Ram Krishna Ray (নীলকর দেওয়ান রামকৃষ্ণ রায়). The administrative building of the indigo planter was known as Nilkuthi (নীলকুঠি).
The mosque is located beside a branch of river Meghna (মেঘনা). It is locally known as Chhoto Meghna River (ছোট মেঘনা নদী). The sun was about to go down for the day. I have enjoyed the sunset from the bank of the river. There was a boat available near the place. It was a public transport boat. We have boarded on that boat and that dropped us at Narsingdi town within one hour. And the cost was only 10 Taka per person. It was a bonus boat journey and we have enjoyed the scenic beauties during the journey.
How to Go:
Well, we have walked for our birds and it was a daylong walk. But you don’t need to do that. Its very easy to go there. You can take a public boat from the Norshingdi town ghat (নরসিংদী টাউন ঘাট). From there take the boat for Atkandi (আটকান্দি) village. From there just have a walk to reach at the mosque.
GPS coordinate of the Ghat (ঘাট) is (23°55’16.86″N, 90°43’34.64″E) and the coordinate for the mosque is (23°55’7.45″N, 90°46’54.07″E).
Another information, to come to Narsingdi (নরসিংদী) you can use the bus Meghaloy (মেঘালয়) from the Gulistan (গুলিস্তান). It is near the police box of Gulistan (গুলিস্তান). GPS coordinate of the bus stoppage is (23°43’23.26″N, 90°24’43.06″E).
Atkandi Nilkuthi Mosque (আটকান্দি নীলকুঠি মসজিদ),
Village: Atkandi (আটকান্দি),
Upazela: Raipura (রায়পুরা উপজেলা),
District: Narsingdi (নরসিংদী জেলা),
Country: Bangladesh (বাংলাদেশ),
GPS Coordinate (23°55’7.45″N, 90°46’54.07″E)
This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icwow.blogspot.com/
u r + this is a very early 20th C mosque build by moulvi Aleem uddin ahmed dedicated to his wife Sadaatunnessa [after her death].This mosque is a part of Sadatunnessa waqf estate.the Late Lady is our great-great grandmother who came from absolutely a different region.her eldest son was Khan Bahadur MA Baset who had his residence in Becharan Dewry, Dhaka