Pandua

Pandua in the Hooghly country is known for its tall brick minar and the long mosque beside it, which stand above the fields near the road to Burdwan. It is often called Chhota Pandua to tell it from the great sultanate capital in Malda. The mosque once carried many domes on rows of stone columns, some reused from older temples.

Local tradition says the saint-warrior Shah Safiuddin came here around the start of the fourteenth century and defeated a local Hindu king, said to be Pandu. The minar is remembered as his victory tower, and a mosque and tomb honour him nearby. A poet of nearby Santipur wrote the story down as a verse tale. From the sixteenth century the Hooghly river below drew Portuguese, Dutch and French traders to its banks, while the Pandua minar still guided travellers on the road.