A comparative study between the Rangooniha mosque, Imam Mosque in Isfahan and Kousumba Mosque in Bangladesh

A comparative comparison between two civilizations and cultures can be made by comparing two cultural products. The Rangooniha mosque was constructed by Muslims in the subcontinent of India in Abadan. The mosque is similar to the mosques of the Indian Subcontinent. The present research seeks to address the components of the dialogue between two Iranian architectures and the architecture of the subcontinent in religious buildings. The research has been carried out on the basis of a comparative study and a case-study and historical interpretation method. The architecture elements of the Rangooniha mosque are compared with Imam Mosque of Isfahan and Kusumba Mosque in Bangladesh. Regardless of the importance of space shapes and concepts, it has been tried to study several concepts, including access hierarchy, how to communicate with the periphery and the spatial organization of the two buildings, regardless of the physical aspects. The results show that the Rangooniha mosque is linked to the architecture of the mainland in term of form. However, Iranian architecture influence the Rangooniha mosque spaces by hierarchy of space.

Architecture grows through interaction between different cultures and nations across the whole globe. Migration is one of the reasons for the interaction between different cultures. Migration has contributed to the richness in diversity of cultures and ethnicities. Migration has helped improve people’s lives in both origin and destination countries and has offered opportunities for millions of people worldwide to forge safe and meaningful lives abroad. When people migrate from one nation or culture to another they carry their knowledge and expressions of distress with them. On settling down in the new culture, their cultural identity is likely to change and that encourages a degree of belonging; they also attempt to settle down by either assimilation or biculturalism. One of these migrations in the contemporary era is the immigration of Indigenous peoples from the Indian subcontinent to Iran. The migration of Bengali and Indian Muslims from the subcontinent to Iran has been a factor in the interaction between the Persians and the Muslim of subcontinent. Muslims have lived in Myanmar (also known as Burma) since the 11th century AD. There are a variety of Burmese Muslim ethnic minorities, including the Chinese-Muslim Panthay in northern Myanmar, Shan Muslims, and Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine. In this article we emphasis on the role of Rohingya Muslims. The    Rohingya Muslims    developed    a    distinctly regional style of architecture that had popular appeal. By   infusing   their   own   methods   and   teachings   of construction new life was given to forms that   already existed   and   were   well   known   in Bengal   and   in neighboring areas such as brume and India.Throughout the Islamic period this tradition continued, assimilating the changes brought about   by   Muslim   rulers   in   their   construction. Indian Muslims and brumes have built religious buildings in Iran based on the way of their culture and the native art, the most important one is the Rangooniha mosque. Authors are trying to find the method of interaction between Persian and Hindi culture across architecture studies. It is hoped that through this comparative comparison, the components of intercultural dialogue can be identified. So, at the first, by examining and comparing the case studies, the question was answered: “what is the relationship between religious architecture of Iran and Bangladesh”. Perhaps this question can be answered by examining the decorations and the form of building and organizing the spaces.The authors attempt to introduce the roots of the formation of the architectural form by introducing the Rangooniha mosque in Bengal, Brume and Iran. In this article, we discuss important considerations in the development of a research question and hypothesis and in defining objectives for research. By the end of this article, the reader will be able to appreciate the significance factors to find similarity and difference between the Rangooniha mosque and the mosques of subcontinent and Iran. It is important to note the question: “Which spaces and ornament in Rangooniha mosque have been transformed based on Iranian architecture and which spaces have been constant to Bengali architecture in terms of interior decoration and organization??" 

The research method in this paper is based on the comparative case study approach (CCS). Case study methodology is widely used across multiple disciplines and fields. The approach engages two logics of comparison: first, the more common com-pare and contrast logic; and second, a “tracing across “sites or scales. We consider the comparative case study approach to be a heuristic. Data collection techniques and data are collected from multiple sources. Data collection techniques include direct observations and relevant documents. For comparison, the Rangooniha mosques with Iranian mosques and Indo-Bengali mosques, Imam Isfahan mosque and Kusomba Mosque in Bangladesh have been studied. Most historical mosques are not stand-alone buildings but it should be noted that the Imam Isfahan Mosque has been chosen as a religious building with a dominant discourse in Islamic-Iranian architecture and the Kusomba Mosque Mosque has been chosen based on its history.

Historical documents show the continuous cultural relationship between Iran and Bengal (Chuamin, 2004: 286). The impact of Iranian architecture on the India and Bangladesh is significant (Hasan, 1978: 21). With the entry of Britain into Iran a large part of labors included Indians and Bengalis built a mosque in Iran, Abadan. These Muslims were from Rangoon and therefor the name of this mosque was Rangooniha. The mosque has a courtyard and gathering hall (shabestan). There was also a garden surrounding the mosque. Today, the garden is demolished. (Karimian, 2008: 54-55). Triple divisions is the dominate strategy in space formation which is drawn from the architecture of the Indianan Buddhist temples (Dizany, 2018: 81). The vast majority of Muslims in Myanmar are Bengali, the Bengali mosque's architecture is prevalent in this country (Chuamin, 2004: 283). KousumbaMosque is one the most important building that is made by this kind of spatial organization. This mosque belongs to the 16th century and has never been restored (Dani, 2018: 4). It is seem that kousumba mosque is a prototype for mosque builders in Myanmar and Bangladesh. The mosque has three different section including: open space. Green field and a part of building is built without borders. On the other hand, the mosque of Imam Isfahan is chosen as the prototype of the Iranian mosque. One of the reasons for this is that today there is a minor changes can be saw in construction time line from initial construction to current era. The next reason is the importance and reliability of this building in terms of architectural and structural value and the main role of architects from Isfahan during the economic prosperity of Abadan. Eventually, the period of construction of this building and its continuous use, especially in recent times, have been of interest in the impact of this type on the architecture of other regions of Iran. The Masjid-i Imam, formerly known as Masjid-i Shah, was built on the south side of Isfahan's maydan, the royal square of Isfahan that had been built under Shah 'Abbas. The Imam mosque of Isfahan belonged to the beginning of the 11th century AH (Hillenbrand, 2008, 151), and construction type of this mosque is four-porch (chahariwani) (Pirnya, 2013: 76). Following the Iranian traditional mosque plan, the Masjid-i Shah has a court (50 by 67 meters) surrounded by a two-story arcade on four sides with four iwans, one at the center of each side, and a domed sanctuary behind the southwest iwan, oriented towards Mecca. However, the mosque's plan presents an interesting variation: behind each lateral iwan (on the northwest and southeast) is a domed chamber. In this way, the building is formed around the central courtyard, and four porches in the four walls of the rectangular courtyard are located and in the direction of the Qibla there are Domes and Shabestan (Molazadeh, 1999: 53). It seems that with the analysis of these mosques and their comparative comparisons, the Rangooniha mosque could be the genealogy of the mosque's architecture. The comparative study is formed by analyzing the macro-organization, how private spaces are communicated, how to provide the hierarchy of entry, how to access the Shabestan, how to get light and ventilation, way to use the nature and privacy system. 

The results of comparative study show that subcontinent architects have been influenced by the Iranian architecture. These can be described as follows: Although the Rangooniha mosque is similar to the Kousumbamosque in the form and decoration, but it is similar to the imam mosque of Isfahan in the field of circularization and creation of space, too.   a. Enclosure and confidentiality Passing from outer space to the courtyard and indoor space, while feeling confident, the feeling of narrowing of space is reduced. While in the Kousumbamosque, entering the open space into a closed space causes a feeling of lack of open space and confidentiality.   b. Open and closed spaces In the mosques of Rangooniha and Imam, the closed space and the outer space have a separation section. While the mosque has a direct connection between indoor and outdoor space.   c. Private-public spaces: The Rangoon mosques and the Imam mosque of Isfahan have a more private space than the KousumbaMosque. Passers by the KousumbaMosque can see the shabestan completely.   d. Arrivals In the Rangooniha mosques and the Imam mosque of Isfahan Outdoor spaces (outdoor, without borders), enterance (sardar) (closed and restricted space and separator), Outdoor courtyard (open-air separated from the open space) is  connected with shabestan (closed hall for gathering) but There is a connection between the outdoor mosque and the open space in the KousumbaMosque. e. Access to Shabestan: In the mosque of Rangooniha and the Imam mosque of Isfahan, access to the main entrance is from the “sardar” to the courtyard and then the shabestan, but in the mosque there are several main entrances. f. Space Function In the Rangoon mosque and the Imam, the place of study and education is located on both sides of the “Mihrab”, but is located on the right side of the Mihrab at the KousumbaMosque. There is a separation between the place of teaching of worship in Imam Mosque of Isfahan and Kousumba, but this is not the case in the Rangooniha mosque. g. Lighting into space The illumination of the Rangooniha mosque and the Imam mosque of Isfahan are from the main courtyard and Shabestan surrounding the courtyard, and the free area around the mosque has major shading areas, but in the mosque there is an unobstructed light and air conditioning.  h. Gardening The plant does not exist in the main courtyard of Rangoon mosques and Imam Mosque of Isfahan, and its cultivation has been done in the courtyards and surrounding gardens. In the mosque of Kousumba, around the mosque is completely covered with plants and trees. i. Space Concealment Passers by the presence of the courtyard cannot see the space inside the mosques of Rangooniha and Imam. But passersby have seen the Kousumbamosque in a relative way.