History of Indian and Eastern Architecture

by James Fergusson

It is not clear whether the angular flutings are copied from some peculiarity found in the minarets at Khorasan and further westward, or whether they are derived from the forms of the temples of the Jains. The forms of the bases of the minarets at Ghazni appear to lend probability to the first hypothesis; but the star-like form of many temples—principally Jaina—in Mysore and elsewhere (ante, p. 394, et seqq.) would seem to countenance the idea of their being of Hindu origin. No star-like forms have yet, however, been found so far north, and their destruction has been too complete for us to hope that they may be found now. Be this as it may, it is probably not too much to assert that the Kutub Minar is the most beautiful example of its class known to exist anywhere. The rival that will occur at once to most people is the campanile at Florence, built by Giotto. That is, it is true, 30 ft. taller, but it is crushed by the mass of the cathedral alongside; and, beautiful though it is, it wants that poetry of design and exquisite finish of detail which marks every moulding of the minar. It might have been better if the slope of the sides had been at a higher angle, but that is only apparent when seen at a distance; when viewed from the court of the mosque its form is perfect, and, under any aspect, is preferable to the prosaic squareness of the outline of the Italian example.

The only Mahomedan building known to be taller than this is the minaret of the mosque of Hassan, at Cairo (p. 389 and Woodcut No. 928, vol. ii.); but as the pillar at Old Delhi is a wholly independent building, it has a far nobler appearance, and both in design and finish far surpasses not only its Egyptian rival, but any building of its class known to me in the whole world. This, however, must not be looked at as if erected for the same purposes as those usually attached to mosques elsewhere. It was not designed as a place from which the müeddin should call the prayers, though its lower gallery may have been used for that purpose also, but as a Tower of Victory—a Jaya Stambha, in fact—an emblem of conquest, which the Hindus could only too easily understand and appreciate.

At the distance of 470 ft. north of this one a second minar was commenced, by Ala ud-dîn, of twice its dimensions, or 297 ft. in circumference. It was only carried up to the height of 40 ft., and abandoned probably in consequence of the removal of the seat of government to the new capital of Tugluckabad.

The date of all these buildings is known with sufficient exactness from the inscriptions which they bear,[497] from which it appears that the inner court was enclosed by Shahab ud-dîn. The central range of arches ([Woodcut No. 279]) was built by Kutub ud-dîn; the wings by Altumsh, whose tomb is behind the northern range, and the Kutub Minar was either built or finished by the same monarch; they extend, therefore, from A.D. 1196-1235, at which date they were left incomplete in consequence of the death of the last-named king.

281. Iron Pillar at Kutub. (From a Photograph.) The dotted line shows the extent below the ground.

One of the most interesting objects connected with this mosque is the iron pillar which stands—and apparently always has stood—in the centre of its courtyard ([Woodcut No. 281]). It now stands 22 ft. above the ground, and as the depth under the pavement is now ascertained to be only 20 in., the total height is 23 ft. 8 in.[498] Its diameter at the base is 16·4 in., at the capital 12·05 in. The capital is 3½ ft. high, and is sharply and clearly wrought into the Persian form that makes it look as if it belonged to an earlier period than it does; and it has the amalaka moulding, which is indicative of considerable antiquity. It has not, however, been yet correctly ascertained what its age really is. There is an inscription upon it, but without a date. From the form of its alphabet, Prinsep ascribed it to the 3rd or 4th century;[499] Bhau Daji, on the same evidence, to the end of the 5th or beginning of the 6th century.[500] The truth probably lies between the two. My own conviction is that it belongs to one of the Chandra Rajas of the Gupta dynasty, either consequently to A.D. 363 or A.D. 400.

Taking A.D. 400 as a mean date—and it certainly is not far from the truth—it opens our eyes to an unsuspected state of affairs to find the Hindus at that age capable of forging a bar of iron larger than any that have been forged even in Europe up to a very late date, and not frequently even now. As we find them, however, a few centuries afterwards using bars as long as this lât in roofing the porch of the temple at Kanaruc (ante, p. 222), we must now believe that they were much more familiar with the use of this metal than they afterwards became. It is almost equally startling to find that, after an exposure to wind and rain for fourteen centuries, it is unrusted, and the capital and inscription are as clear and as sharp now as when put up fourteen centuries ago.[501]

As the inscription informs us the pillar was dedicated to Vishnu, there is little doubt that it originally supported a figure of Garuda on the summit which the Mahomedans of course removed; but the real object of its erection was as a pillar of victory to record the “defeat of the Balhikas,[502] near the seven mouths of the Sindhu,” or Indus. It is, to say the least of it, a curious coincidence, that eight centuries afterwards men from that same Bactrian country should have erected a Jaya Stambha ten times as tall as this one, in the same courtyard, to celebrate their victory over the descendants of those Hindus who so long before had expelled their ancestors from the country.