The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c30.21.3

v3.c30.21.3

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.