Qutab_Minar

Qutab Minar is an exquisite example of Indo-Islamic Afgan architecture. Mughals used to build victory towers to proclaim and celebrate victories. This tower also said as a minaret was also built in commemorating Qutbuddin Aibak’s victory. It is located in Mehrauli in South Delhi and is named after Qutab-ud-din Aibak.This tower is the Highest brick tower in the world and is an eminent member of the World Heritage Site community. HISTORY: King Qutubuddin Aibak of Slave dynasty laid the foundation of the Qutab Minar in 1199, adjoining the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, to proclaim the victory of Islam, after the defeat of the last Hindu kingdom in Delhi. It was the Afghan, Muhammad of Ghur who ousted the last Hindu king Prithviraj Chauhan in AD 1192, but he returned to his country leaving Qutbuddin Aibak as his viceroy. In 1206, on his masters death, Aibak crowned himself as the Sultan of Delhi. The word 'Qutab Minar' means 'axis minaret'. The tower which dominates the countryside for miles around has five storeys, each marked by a projecting balcony. The tower was built in three stages. Qutab-ud-Din completed the first storey. Second, third and the fourth were completed by his successor and son-in -law, Illtutmish in 1230. The minar was first struck by lightening in AD 1368 and the fallen top storey was replaced by two storeys's, the fourth and the fifth in 1370 AD by Feroz Shah Tughlaq (AD 1351-88). INSPIRED ARCHITECTURE: The architecture of this tower is inspired by Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan.Like qutab minar it is is accessable through a set of double spiral stairs that run from the octagonal base to the circular top. The tower is decorated with kufic calligraphy etched in stucco and accented with turquoise ceremics. Along the shaft are several balconies and at the top is a large lantern. DESCRIPTION: Qutab Minar with a height of 72.5m (239ft), is the highest stone tower in India and has a diametre of 14.32 metres at the base and about 2.75 metres at the top. The first three storeys are made of red sandstone and are heavily indented with different styles of fluting, alternately round and angular on the bottom floor, round on the second and angular on the third. The fourth and fifth floors are made of marble and sandstone. All the storeys are surrounded by a projected balcony encircling the Minar and are supported by exquisite stalactite designs. The tapering tower has pointed and circular flutings on the first story round and star-shaped on the second and third stories. The decoration of the Qutab Minar is consistently Islamic in character from base to top; though the somewhat hybrid style of Firoz Shah's later additions is noticeably distinct. Numerous inscriptions in Arabic and Nagari characters are seen as wide encircling bands in the plain fluted masonry of the Minar. This inscriptions reveal the history of Qutub, from its commencement in AD1199 to its repairs in between. There is a door on the northern side, leading inside the tower to a spiral stairway with 379 steps that winds its way up to the balcony in each floor and culminating in a platform at the top. The intricate balconies held together by stalactite vaulting technique and patterned with honey combing is a special feature of the minar The minar has survived a series of lightening bolts and earthquakes during the past centuries. After the first lighting strike way back in AD1368 knocking off the top storey and two floors replaced instead, by Firoz Shah Tuglaq, inscriptions indicate that further repairs were done by Sultan Sikander Lodi in 1503. Later in 1803, the cupola on the top was throwndown and the whole pillar was seriously injured by an earthquake. It was repaired by Major R. Smith of the Royal Engineers who restored the Qutub Minar in 1829 replacing the cupola with a Bengal style chhattri. The chhattri was removed in 1848, by the Viceroy Lord Hardinge as it was criticized as not keeping in with the architectural style of the rest of the minar. Now it stands to the left of the entry path and is known as Smith's folly. QUTUB COMPLEX: Its not just the minar .The place is a huge complex with main attractions that include • Alai darwaza {main entrance} • Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque • Tomb of Iltutmish • Myesterious iron pillar • Madrassa In the south east of Qutab Minar is the colossal Alai Darwaza built by Ala-ud-din Khilji (1296-1316 AD). The Alai Darwaza is a magnificent gateway with inlaid marble decorations and latticed stone screens that display the remarkable artistry of the Turkish artisans who worked on it. At its foot stands the first mosque to be built in India, the Quwwat-ul-Islam Masjid. Referred to as the Might of Islam Mosque, this sacred relic is a fruit of successive additions and extensions over the centuries. It consists of a rectangular courtyard enclosed by cloisters, erected with the carved columns .These carved columns are of strange importance as the mosque is built by the remains of several 27 Hindu and Jain temples in the region. Dismantled from temples, the columns still reflect a disturbance of carving - human forms, gods and goddesses, flora and fauna, jewelry and other motifs - which was characteristically Hindu, but was expressly forbidden in Islamic architectural expression. The shortage of both time and money forced the Muslim ruler to reuse inherently sacrilegious elements.  At the east gate there are inscriptions that expound that the original mosque was built on the foundations of a Hindu temple and the materials obtained by demolishing 27 idolatrous temples. The west of this mosque is spectacularly decorated tomb of Iltutmish; It is a plain square chamber of red sandstone, profusely carved with inscriptions, geometrical and arabesque patterns in Saracen tradition on the entrances and the whole of interior. Some of the motifs viz., the wheel, tassel, etc., are reminiscent of Hindu designs. In the courtyard of the mosque is a mysterious iron pillar. Some Sanskrit inscription indicates that the pillar was originally present outside a Vishnu temple, possibly in Bihar. A deep hole on the top of the pillar point out that an additional member, perhaps an image of 'Garuda', was fitted into it to answer to its description as a standard of Vishnu. The inscription does not tell is how it was made, for the iron in the pillar is of quite exceptional purity (98%). Scientists have never discovered how iron that is so pure that it has not rusted even after 1600 years could be cast with the technology of the time. PRESENT DAY: Today, this impressively ornate tower has a slight tilt, but otherwise has worn the centuries remarkably well. The staircase inside the tower to the balconies has been closed following an accident in early 1980's when a party of school girls panicked when the lights failed and a stampede led to a number of deaths.