Balia Mosque (Jiner Mosque) (বালিয়া মসজিদ)

Balia Mosque, also called Choto Balia Jame Mosque, stands in Choto Balia village about three kilometres east of Bhulli Hat in Thakurgaon district, on the road toward Boda in Panchagarh.

Local folklore says jinn and fairies began building the mosque on a new moon night but fled at dawn before finishing the domes. For this reason it is widely known as Jiner Mosque, the Mosque of the Jinn, and for many decades it stood without its domes.

Meher Baksh Chowdhury and his imported architects

The real builder was zamindar Meher Baksh Chowdhury, whose ancestors came from Bihar and settled in the region after the Battle of Plassey. He planned the mosque in the late 19th century and brought in architects from Agra, Delhi or Murshidabad, according to different accounts. Work stopped after the chief architect died, and local craftsmen could not complete the domes. An inscription gives the year 1317 BS, or 1910 AD, which is also the year carved on Meher Baksh's grave.

After Meher Baksh's younger brother also died with the work unfinished, the mosque stood without domes for about a hundred years. Restoration began in 2010 under the patronage of his great-granddaughter Tasrifa Khatun, with technical help from the Department of Archaeology, and three new domes were built to a design by architect Syed Abu Sufian Kushal.

Three domes and eight minarets on a raised platform

The complex sits on a platform about 1.6 metres high and is divided into an entrance stairway, an open courtyard and the prayer hall. The roof carries three equal domes and eight minarets. It is built of hand-made brick in lime and surki mortar, with carved brick motifs of pitchers, bells, bowls, amla fruit and lotuses.

The mosque is in use for daily prayers. Entry is free, and visitors are welcome outside prayer times with modest clothing.