The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c30.s1.10.3

v3.c30.s1.10.3

The same remarks apply also to the decoration of the Daras Bārī mosque which belongs to about the same age but is even more sorely battered than the Tāntīpāra. The Lotan *masjid* which is another of the monuments ascribed to Yūsuf Shāh is the best surviving example of a type of mosque peculiar to Bengal. It is said to take its name (otherwise Lattan or Nattan) from Nattu, a favourite dancing girl of the Emperor. Like the Chamkhan *masjid*, which appears from its style to be somewhat older but is neither so large nor so well preserved, it is constructed of brick and consists of a square prayer chamber—manifestly built on the model of the Eklākhī tomb—with an arched verandah added on to its eastern side, the whole structure measuring 72½ feet long by 52 feet wide. Inside and out, the brickwork was once covered with glazed tiles of blue, white, yellow and green. Much of this tilework has now perished, but what remains of it does not suggest that it could ever have been very attractive. Here and there were a few effective ornaments, such as blue and white lotus medallions in the spandrels, but most of the decoration took the form of narrow alternating bands of colour, which are merely restless and bewildering to the eye. Such decoration has little to commend it.