Historic Nawab Chanda Sahib mosque inside the Vellore Fort, Tamil Nadu

Navrang India June 15, 2018
Mosque inside the Vellore fort.Nat Geo Traveller India
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 Vellore Fort  is an important  historical place and  constitutes a prominent landmark in the city of Vellore, Tamil Nadu.  During the British rule,Tipu Sultan's family and the last king of Sri Lanka, Vikrama Rajasinha, were held as royal prisoners in the fort. The fort houses a church, a mosque and a Hindu temple. The fort became a British garrison in 1760 which played a crucial role in the wars against Tipu.  During the early colonial rule it was here within the fort in 1806, the first rebellion against British misrule erupted. Here, after Tipu Sultan's death in 1798, his two sons and a daughter were imprisoned within the fort. In the after of this rebellion, Tipu  sons were shifted to Calcutta by the British  company to avoid further trouble.

Within the fort complex lies a beautiful mosque that was built in 1750 Nawab Chanda Sahib. Chanda Sahib (died 12 June 1752) was the Dewan of the Carnatic and later Nawab of the Carnatic between 1749 and 1752. His birth name is Husayn Dost Khan.
Son-in-law of the Nawab of Carnatic Dost Ali Khan   Chanda Sahib, an ally of the French, annexed the Madurai Nayak kingdom and declared as the Nawab of Tanjore. However, the Marathas did not allow him to settle. Later he was defeated by Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah and by the British forces led  by Robert Clive. Subsequently, he was assasinated by the Maratha army. 

The mosque is being managed by the ASI and  is a protected monument made of granite stones on all three sides with lime mortar. It is called Nawab Chanda Sahib Mosque and is roughly 1.1/2 km from Vellore railway station.
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Presently, the mosque  is not used for worship and the gates of the mosque remain  closed. Rectangular in shape, in the front part one could see plastering done with lime and bricks. This Indo-Saracenic
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style mosque  can be accessed through a long flight of steps as the prayer hall is at an elevated place. The dimensions of the hall are 40 feet in length and 15 feet in breadth. There is big dome over the center of the prayer hall and in the front there are two prominent  tall minarets. Though it is not a big well-embellished  mosque, its simple appearance is quite impressive with floral designs. There is an open space  in front of the entrance without any roof.

Since the British rule, no Namaz has been done as of to day as the mosque is under the control of  the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The permission to offer prayers in the mosque is a long pending demand of the local Muslim community.  The mosque, along with the Jalagandeswar temple were closed for the public to offer prayers. In 1981, the temple was opened for prayer due to strong public demand. Now, Muslims in the locality are demanding that they may be allowed to offer Namaz at the mosque. Despite the fact a large section of Muslims want the mosque to be open for prayer, some are against it and they petitioned the Collector  not to open the mosque for worship as it would cause some unnecessary issues. The Namaz issue is pending before the  ASI which is a central government organization. 
 http://www.milligazette.com/news/5083-muslims-for-permission-for-namaz-in-vellore-fort-mosque