A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c18.19

c18.19

facilitate his duty many mosques, although by no means all, were furnished with a minaret, or two minarets, from which the summons could be proclaimed. Sometimes the minarets were attached to the mosque, sometimes they were detached. The Kutb Mīnār at Delhi, originally about 250 feet high, and even now not much less, is the most remarkable example of the detached minaret in existence. Like the adjoining mosque, it derives its familiar name from the saint, not the prince. It is, however, some thirty years or more later in date than the mosque, having been erected about A. D. 1232 by the Sultan Iyaltimish when he made large additions to the mosque. The details of the building are largely due to Hindu masons. The structure has been so often described at length, that it will be sufficient to give a photograph (Plate XCII), and to cite Fergusson's authority for the statement that the Mīnār is ‘the most beautiful example of its class known to exist anywhere’. Fine specimens of mīnārs of later date will be illustrated presently. The form, a specially Muslim one, offers much scope for variety of treatment. ‘The minaret,’ as Sir George Birdwood observes, ‘is the one original feature the Saracens contributed to architecture.’¹