History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c24.31

c24.31

'Alāī Darvāzā is not only beautiful, it is unique. It is not only the exquisitely flowing verses of the Qurān or the lace-like carvings, so common in other Indo-Muslim buildings, that make it "one of the most treasured gems of Islamic architecture"; but the horse-shoe or "keel" type of arch, which is not found in any of the buildings after those of the Khaljīs,¹⁴ the projecting bosses which once filled the sockets now existing in the spandrels, and the radiating voussoirs of the arches, render it peerless. "Nothing so complete," says Fergusson, "had been done before, nothing so ornate was done by them afterwards." The edifice undoubtedly marks the culminating point in the development of Saracenic ornament under the Khaljīs.