The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c30.21

Language: English

v3.c30.21.1

Of the disposition of the mosque and other buildings composing this group a clear and graphic idea can be obtained from the skilful reconstruction drawn by Mr J. A. Page (Plate III). The Qutb minar seems to have been intended as a *ma’zina* or tower from which the *mu’azzin* could summon the Faithful to prayer, though it soon came to be regarded as a Tower of Victory, akin to those afterwards erected at Chitor and Māndū. As originally designed it stood some 225 feet in height and comprised four storeys divided one from another by richly decorated balconies and further embellished by vertical flutings and horizontal bands of inscriptions inwoven with foliate designs. Many of the inscriptions are Quranic texts and demonstrate the essentially sacred character of the fabric; others contain panegyrics of the kings who built or repaired the minar, and from these as well as from architectural considerations it is evident that only a portion of the first storey was the work of Qutb-ud-dīn Aibak and that the rest was completed by his successor Iltutmish¹. In an inscription on the lowest band of the first storey Qutb-ud-dīn is referred to under his usual viceregal titles of 'The Amīr, The Commander of the Army, The Glorious, The Great,' and on the adjacent bands are eulogies of his overlord Mu'izz-ud-dīn Muhammad Ghūrī and of the latter's brother Ghiyās-ud-dīn, which leave no room for doubt that Qutb-ud-dīn was still Viceroy at Delhi when the minar was begun.

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Iltutmish's own inscriptions are engraved on the second and third storeys only, but there is another record concerning him on the fourth storey, which dates from the time of Fīrūz Shāh Tughluq. In the reign of that Emperor the minar was struck by lightning and the fourth storey being then apparently dismantled and replaced by two smaller ones, its height by this means was raised to 234 feet. This rebuilding is chronicled in an inscription on the fifth storey and is clearly apparent in the novel style of decoration as well as in the different materials employed in the new work; for, whereas the three lower storeys are constructed of grey quartzite faced throughout with red sandstone, the fourth and fifth storeys are constructed of red sandstone faced largely with white marble. Finally, in 1503 A.D., during the reign of Sikandar Shāh Lodī, the minar was again restored and its upper storeys repaired, though what measures precisely were carried out on that occasion cannot easily be determined. On the strength of certain short Nāgarī records in the interior attempts have been made to prove that the minar was of Hindu origin and that the Muhammadans merely re-carved the outer surface. But the only Nāgarī record of a date earlier than 1199 A.D. is one on the soffit of a window lintel, in a position which leaves no doubt that this particular stone came from some older structure.

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As a fact, the whole conception of the minar and almost every detail of its construction and decoration is essentially Islamic. Towers of this kind were unknown to the Indians, but to the Muhammadans they had long been familiar, whether as *ma'zinas* attached to mosque or as free-standing towers like those at Ghaznī. Equally distinctive also of Muslim art are the calligraphic inscriptions and the elaborate stalactite corbelling beneath the balconies, both of which can be traced back to kindred features in the antecedent architecture of Western Asia and Egypt. Fergusson, who was no mean judge, regarded the Qutb mīnār as the most perfect example of a tower known to exist anywhere, and there is much to be said in favour of his view. Nothing, certainly, could be more imposing or more fittingly symbolic of Muslim power than this stern and stupendous fabric; nor could anything be more exquisite than its rich but restrained carvings. Nevertheless, with all its overwhelming strength, with all its perfection of symmetry and ornament—nay, by reason perhaps of this very perfection—it seems to miss the romance, the indefinable quality of mystery that clings around some of its rivals: round the Campanile of Giotto, for example, at Florence or round the towers of Victory and Fame at Chitor.