History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c26.s2.3

v2.c26.s2.3

The general arrangement of the principal ruins will be understood from the plan (Woodcut No. 369), which was taken with great care, though the scale to which it has been necessary to reduce it prevents all its peculiarities from being seen. The disposition of the various erections may first be briefly explained:—The inner court on the west side is that of the original mosque of Qutbu-d-Dîn, which measures 142 ft. by 108 ft. within the corridors; and in the middle of its west half the Iron pillar stands. The main entrance is under a dome, about 20 ft. in diameter on the east side, along which runs a corridor supported on four rows of pillars, the back row being placed against the walls, and in the north and south ends are twostoreyed pavilions. The side corridors had each three rows of pillars with an entrance on each side, though the gateway and all the western portion of the corridor has quite disappeared. About 20 yards of the eastern half of the wall remain and part of the colonnade, the pillars of which are of much plainer patterns than those of the other sides.¹ The west end of this court is the great screen wall, 8 ft. thick, with its gigantic arches forming the entrances into the mosque itself which stood behind it and was 135 ft. in length by 32 ft. deep, but is now a complete ruin—only some twenty-two of the tall columns that supported its roof being left. Outside the south-east corner of the court stands the Qutb Minâr, erected at the same time.²