This thesis deals with mosques of Bangladesh built during the rule of the Independent Sultans of Bengal. The thrust of the thesis is to provide an adequate documentation hitherto not available on the majority of the mosques. A total of forty-nine buildings could be located. Three among these were previously unknown, and one was originally built not as a mosque. Among the Sultanate mosques of India, only the Adina mosque has been included in this study because of its uniqueness and importance.

A complete catalog provides accompanying floor plans and photographs of every building included in this study. The mosques have been arranged in groups according to types of floor plans and each type is discussed and explained. The sources of these mosques have been traced to imported Islamic features, to the pre-Islamic brick temples of Bangladesh, and to the traditional village hut. The catalog forms the main body of the thesis. A brief account of the historical and geographical background precedes the catalog.

The buildings have been divided into four groups--Mamluk, Early, Classical and Late, according to stylistic considerations. Dates of mosques, where not known, have been proposed through formal comparisons with firmly dated buildings.

In the concluding remarks, the characteristic architectural features of the early Bengali style are discussed. The mosque inscriptions are studied to see what light they throw on the social conditions of the time. The significance of the buildings as historical, ecological and cultural changes that took place at the time of their building are brought out. Finally, Sultanate architecture is found to form a continuum with pre-Islamic Buddhist and Hindu architecture and post-Sultanate Hindu temples, and is therefore, identified as a manifestation of mainstream Bengali architecture.