The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c30.20

v3.c30.20

The last of the Delhi kings to enlarge the Quwwat-ul-Islām mosque was ‘Alā-ud-dīn Khaljī. In the spirit of megalomania which so often obsessed him he started reduplicating the prayer chamber towards the north, adding yet a third court more than twice the size of its predecessor, and erecting in it another minar as high again as the existing one. Had these vast structures been completed, we may well believe that they would have transcended the other monuments of Delhi as much in beauty as in size, but, fortunately perhaps for the welfare of his subject, the death of the king 1315 A.D. put an end to his grandiose schemes.