Very keen to see her father’s creation, my wife Anoushka and I arranged a visit through a Moor acquaintance. We found an imposing structure in the old quarter of Central Colombo, a solitary date palm standing sentinel at the main entrance. The building was rather modern in comparison to the others on Moor Street. A small cannon in the compound puzzled me by its presence in a place of worship.

Many years later, I found an article from the Ceylon Daily News of February 7, 1972 that gave extensive details of the building of the Mosque, which commenced in 1966 and was to be completed in mid-1972.

The article stated that the project was handled by the architectural firm M/s. S.H. Peiris and Ananda Peiris (father & son) and that Ananda Peiris, the surviving partner was the sole architect of the new Grand Mosque. It said he had drawn inspiration from Mughal Emperor Humayun’s tomb built in 1564 A.D. in New Delhi, India, designed by two Persian architects, Mirak Mirza and his son Sayyid Muhammad.

My wife’s three siblings Lehana, Shehan and Thushika recall a neighbour at Horton Place, Colombo 7, Muhammadh Ovais, a member of the Management Committee of the Grand Mosque initially approaching their father about the Mosque.

The article detailed how the two storeyed Mosque was to have a ground floor and lower ground floor, the latter with eight large Howz (ablution tanks) with a floor area of 19,000 sq. feet. The first floor (5000 sq. feet) and the second floor (3700 sq. feet) would accommodate 4000 persons.

The roof would have 16 semi-circular concrete barrel walls and the Minaret (calling tower) would be the tallest of any mosque in Ceylon. The Dome, influenced by Persian architecture, soaring over a 100 feet high would be the biggest of its kind. The edifice was to be completed with concrete grills in the front, finished in white to give it a Moorish touch.

Ananda Peiris replicated the grills from the old Mosque and identical grills are still seen in the adjoining Arabic School.

Ascending 93 steps along a narrow spiral staircase within the Minaret brought me to the Dome, where peeking through the small fanlight, the stupendous view of the Colombo skyline blew my breath away. However, the Muezzin no longer makes the ascent five times a day to call the faithful to prayer due to modern-day loudspeakers.

“When completed, it will be Ceylon’s biggest mosque and should stand on par with the famous Kuala Lumpur Mosque said to be one of the biggest in the Southeast Asia region,” Mr Peiris says in the article.

The article adds that this multi-million-rupee project replacing the 300-year-old Grand Mosque in Old Moor Street, Pettah was handled by a ‘non-Muslim’ firm of architects M/s S.H. Peiris and Ananda Peiris for the Trustees of the Colombo’s Grand Mosque.

Mr. Peiris says “our Firm went into business only eight years ago and this is the first of its type handled by us and the biggest.”

S. H. Peiris was earlier one of the four partners of the leading architectural firm M/s Billimoria, De Silva, Peiris & Panditharatna, and after qualifying in Denmark, Ananda Peiris also worked there. On April 23, 1968 he was admitted as an Associate Corporate Architect of the Incorporated Association of Architects and Surveyors of London.

Upali Kapilasena, Chairman of Premier Electric Company, electrical contractor of the Colombo Grand Mosque project recalled how his dear friend Ananda Peiris together with a local building contractor worked for years to complete the present Colombo Grand Mosque completely funded by Mr. Muhammadh Ovais.

Sadly apart from the article, records of Ananda Peiris’s work in designing the Colombo Grand Mosque could not be traced.

Any further information or photographs of the work of Ananda Peiris and the Colombo Grand Mosque could be emailed to nishanfernando70@gmail.com.

History of the old mosque

The article from the Ceylon Daily News states the new Mosque would replace the old Mosque believed to have been built by Arab ‘adventurers’ in the 17th Century.  Ananda Peiris reiterates “the old Mosque will not be demolished until the new Mosque is ready for prayers.” “The matter has to be decided upon by the Trustees and other Sufis,” he is quoted as saying. Obviously, the trustees and Sufis decided to demolish the old Mosque and only the photograph in the paper remains. Its sad end prompted me to trace its history………….. The oldest record is a Cufic (Arabic) stone inscription dating to 949 A.D., retrieved by a Dutch official in 1787 from the cemetery of the Old Mosque in Pettah. This was deciphered by Sir Alexander Johnston in 1806 and the findings submitted to the Royal Asiatic Society of London in 1827. It transpired that it was the tombstone of Khalid Ibn Abu Bakaya, a preacher dispatched to Ceylon by the then Caliph of Baghdad. The preacher had built a mosque and preached the religion to the Arab traders living in Colombo at the time. When he passed away, he had been buried in the cemetery next to the mosque. It appears to be the same site of the present Grand Mosque When the first Portuguese flotilla of eight sailing vessels anchored in the bay of Colombo on November 15, 1505, the Commander had spotted two lime-washed mosques on shore. Later they had to compete with the Moors who had been dominating trade in and out of Ceylon for over 500 years. In 1520 the Portuguese launched an attack on the town of Colombo, largely inhabited by Moors of Arabian and Indian descent and the two mosques were destroyed. One was believed to have been on the same site as the present Grand Mosque in Pettah. Subsequently after Vasco da Gama became Viceroy of India, he was ordered by the King of Portugal to dismantle the Portuguese Fort at Colombo. The garrison and artillery were moved to Goa. Thereafter, a small mosque was rebuilt on the same site of the Old Mosque in 1524. In 1790 the Dutch East India Company exiled to Ceylon, 23 families from the Kingdom of Gowa in South Celebes (South Sulawesi, Indonesia). Hooloo Balang Kaya from this group settled with his family in Moor Street in Pettah. The small mosque built in 1524 was renovated and enlarged to a two storey structure by his son, Muhammad Balang Kaya in 1820. British Governor Lt. General Sir Edward Barnes had visited the newly built mosque in 1826 and complimented Muhammad Balang Kaya on his excellent accomplishment. In later years Tuan Baqoos Karawan Balang Kaya (youngest son of Muhammad Balang Kaya) became the Khalifah of this Mosque. The Ziyaram (Shrine) of Baha-Uddeen Baqoos Karavan Voliyullah is in the lower ground floor of the present Colombo Grand Mosque. The shrine has a long tomb with two Meezangal (headstone and a foot stone) surrounded by an ornate balustrade. On top of the balustrade behind the headstone is a gilded Arabic inscription. Most importantly this tomb appears to be the only section within the new Mosque which is older. Records indicate an additional wing known as the Kanjee Maduwa (Porridge Shed) was constructed in 1897 by I.L.M.H.Muhammad Mohideen. Once the Al Madrasatul Hameedia (Arabic School) was begun on August 31, 1900, this building was used for classrooms. This building is the next oldest after the shrine of the Malay saint and needs urgent restoration. Therefore, we can assume that the original mosque built by Muhammad Balang Kaya would have been 152 years old when it was demolished around 1972.

 

When the cannon boomed

I didn’t forget to chase up on the cannon. The original Mosque cannon called the ‘Beerangi’ was mounted on a wooden base and seems to have come into use around 1898. It was fired facing westwards to indicate the time of break-fast during Ramadan and the sighting of the New Moon. It had been fired even during the two World Wars despite many restrictions. The present cannon with a barrel of about four feet and mounted on a steel cradle with wheels, had been donated by A.A.Abdul Raheman around 1950. The tradition of firing the cannon seems to have gone out of vogue.

 

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