It is quite apparent from first glance that this outstanding, Mughal period structure encapsulates the religious history of the area.
The banked approach immediately suggests the rising ground of the not completely excavated Buddhist Vihara, and the large amount of clearly Buddhist architecture, as well as spare pieces of black basalt, confirms the impression.
Built, it seems fair the guess, in the mid 17th Century, this is a large building, constructed, perhaps, to match the size of the earlier Buddhist structure. There are also grounds for suspecting Hindu architectural work within the building.
Unlike the nearby Small Golden Mosque and the famous Kasumba Mosque, there has been no attempt to face the mosque with Buddhist architectural pieces.
However, Buddhist pillars were evidently a mainstay of the large structure, and jigsaw puzzles of what looks like Hindu terracotta work line the special parts of the walls, especially the line of the mihrab, that betray its use as a Madrassa, with a number of teachers.
A little barn like now, it must have been an impressive sight in its heyday, about the time the English took control of governance of the area.
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