Qutub Minar
Qutub Minar, at 73 m (240 ft), is the world’s tallest red sandstone tower, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most important landmark of Delhi, India
Qutub Minar (also spelled as Qutb Minar, Qutab Minar, Kutub Minar or Kutub Meenar) is the world’s tallest red sandstone tower and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in the Mehrauli area of New Delhi, the tower is one of the earliest monumental structures of Delhi.
Qutub Minar stands 73 meters (240 feet) tall and tapering from 14.32 meters (47 feet) in diameter at its base to 2.75 meters (9 feet) at its peak. The tower, one of the most important landmarks of Delhi (New Delhi), is the second tallest stone tower in India after Fateh Burj (‘Victory Tower’) in Chandigarh, Punjab.
Qutub Minar was built in the early 13th century by the slave-emperor Qutub-ud-din Aibak and his successor Shams-ud-din Iltutmish. Aibak started work on the first storey in 1199 AD, which continued for the next 21 years. Around 1220 AD, Iltutmish added three storeys to Qutub Minar. However, lightning struck the fourth storey in 1369 destroying it completely. Firoz Shah Tughlaq, the 19th emperor of Delhi (1351-1388) carried out repairs, replacing the damaged storey with two new storeys.
Divided into five storeys, Qutub Minar has five projecting circular balconies with fluting on the first three storeys. The balconies act as ornamental bands, adorned with intricate and delicate carvings and inscriptions. Red sandstone has been used in the construction of the first three storeys, and both white marble and red sandstone in the last two.
Besides Qutub Minar there are several other major and minor monuments in the Qutub Minar complex. These include Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque,Iron pillar, Alai Darwaza, Alai Minar,Tomb of Iltutmish, Ala-ud-din Khilji’s Madrassa and Tomb, Tomb of Imam Zamin. The other monuments in the vicinity include Mughal era gateways, a sarai, a mosque,Major Smith’s Cupola andSanderson’s Sundial.
The site where the Qutub Minar complex is located was once the citadel of the Tomar and the Chauhan dynasties. These are represented by the ruins of the Lal Kot and Qila Rai Pithora respectively. The Qutub Minar complex also marks the site where the first city, out of the seven cities of Delhi, was established.
The Name and the Purpose
There are several theories about how Qutub Minar got its name. The most common is that it’s named after Qutub-ud-din Aibak, the founder of the Delhi Sultanate. Aibak commissioned the tower’s construction and the work started in 1199 AD. The credit for constructing the first storey goes to Aibak. But did he really wanted it to be called Qutub Minar?
There are also suggestions that Qutub Minar was named after the Muslim saint Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki.Iltutumish, who finished a major part of the tower after Aibak, was a follower of Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki. Qutub Minar was supposed to be the staff or ‘lathi’ of the saint. However contemporary and subsequent historical accounts on Delhi’s rulers are silent on this.
The most logical, and also the most practical, reason why Qutub Minar was built is that it is a victory tower. Similar towers, built as symbols of victory in 11th and 12th centuries, today stand in Ghazni and other cities of Afghanistan. It is also suggested that Qutub Minar served as a tower attached to the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque to call the faithful to prayer. However most inscriptions on the tower suggest that it is a victory tower.
Design and Architecture
The stone used in Qutub Minar is essentially of three different types. While red sandstone is used in the construction of the first three storeys, it is not of uniform colour. The stones units are pink in colour in the first and second storeys, and are a dark shade of red in the third. In the fourth and fifth storeys, red sandstone and marble have been used in the exterior design. The difference in colour is also because of the gap in the construction of the different storeys.
Qutub Minar has five storeys and five balconies, and an innovative plan, which changes with each storey. The exterior of bottom storey has alternate angular and circular flutings. The second storey has only semicircular flutings, while the third has strictly angular flutings. The alignment of the fluting is maintained on all the three storeys.
In contrast to the plain exterior fluting,the circular balconies have ornamented bands adorned with delicate carvings and inscriptions. The inscriptions on each band contain both quotations from the Quran as well as historical information.
The balustrades (the balcony fencing) is the work of Major Robert Smith, who removed the original balustrades and replaced them with the present design. These at once look out-of-place and one can plainly see the mismatch between the intricate design of the bands and the almost ugly balustrades.
Each balcony is supported by large stone brackets on which beautiful honeycomb design. These brackets and designs are similar to the work seen on several Islamic monuments across the world.
Originally Qutub Minar had only four storeys. The fifth storey and some changes were added in 14th century by Firoz Tughlaq. One of the inscriptions on the third floor of Qutub Minar states that the tower suffered damage after it was struck by lightning. It was subsequently repaired and made higher then before.
Over the centuries and decades, Qutub Minar has suffered and survived many earthquakes and other assaults by nature. However it has continued to remain steadfast and majestic. It indicates the strong foundation and the stability of the structure. While Qutub-ud-din Aibak started out with a single storey in 1199, the foundation was laid to accommodate future additions to the tower.
The architect of both the Qawwat-ul-Islam mosque and Qutub Minar was the same person – Fazl Abul Maali. Inscriptions on both the structures record his name and present him as the person responsible for the design. Another inscription states thatthe building was constructed under the “superintendence of the slave Muhammad Amir Koh.”
Other inscriptions reveal names of other architects and artisans who worked on the tower’s restoration in the 15th century. These include names of Nana and Salha (architects), a carpenter called Dharma Vanani, and two artisans, Lola and Lashman, who worked on the tower in 1328.
View from the top of Qutub Minar. Possible?
Once upon a time, if you wanted to, you could enter Qutub Minar through the door that’s now permanently locked. You could climb the circular stairs, emerge at the top and enjoy the breath-taking view. Emily Metcalfe, during a visit to her father Sir Thomas Metcalfe in Delhi in 1848, wrote in her diary:
‘Many a time have I, with Colonel Richard Lawrence, taken a basket of oranges to the top of the Kutub Minar, two hundred and eighty-three feet high, to indulge in a feast in that seclusion, taking care to bring down all the peel, etc., with us, as nothing disorderly was allowed within the precincts of those beautiful ruins and buildings.’
Things are, however, different now.
On Friday, 4 December 1981, a tragic incident occurred which has ever since prevented visitors from entering Qutub Minar. At around 11:30 AM a power-cut plunged the interiors of the tower into darkness, which led to a stampede. At that time there were between 300 and 400 people inside Qutub Minar. On Fridays entry was free and it obviously led to a more-than-usual flow of visitors.
The only source of light, beside the electric bulbs, and air inside the narrow staircase were the vents cut into the solid red sandstone. In the ensuing confusion and panic, which lasted around 15 minutes, 45 lives were lost. The autopsy reports established suffocation to be the major cause of deaths.
The very next day there was a notice outside Qutub Minar informing people that access to the tower was closed till further notice. The insides of Qutub Minar have remained inaccessible to the general public since 1981.
Damage, Repairs and Additions to Qutub Minar
While Qutub Minar has withstood the ravages of time, it has also been suffered serious damaged over the centuries. Repairs and reconstruction on large parts of the tower were carried out by later rulers of Delhi as well as the British during their occupation of India.
Qutub Minar has been regularly struck by lightning during rainy days. The tall tower has served as a natural passage for the charge generated in the atmosphere. However the only common conductor in Qutub Minar is iron, used in the form of clamps to hold the stone blocks together. The other material — red sandstone, marble and granite — are non conductive.
The first recorded instance of lightning striking the top storey of Qutub was in 1326 AD, during the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq (1325-51 AD). The second recorded strike occurred during the reign of Firoz Shah Tughlaq (1351-88 AD) in 1369, which destroyed the fourth storey added by Shams-ud-din Iltutmish. Firoz Shah Tughlaq carried out restoration work and replaced the damaged storey with two new storeys.
Unlike the other storeys, marble was also used along with red sandstone in the construction of the fourth and fifth storeys, making them stand out from the rest. Firoz Shah Tughlaq also added a chhatri/cupola atop Qutub Minar.
In 1803, when India was under the rule of the British, an earthquake seriously damaged Qutub Minar and threw Firoz Shah Tughlaq’s cupola to the ground. Two years later, repair work was authorised by the Governor-General of India, Richard Wellesley, and was performed under the supervision of Major Robert Smith of the Bengal Royal Engineers. The restoration was finally completed 25 years after the earthquake, in 1828 and at a cost of Rs. 17,000 and a further Rs. 5,000 for the removal of debris.
As part of the restorations, Major Smith liberally made some additions to Qutub Minar, which were severely criticised, most notably by Major Alexander Cunningham, the first Director General of Archaeological Survey of India. In one instance, explaining the changes to the entrance door of Qutub Minar, Major Smith wrote that it had been “improved with new mouldings, frieze and repair of the inscription tablet.”
Other changes included the installation of balustrades (railings) on all the balconies of Qutub Minar, which were (and still are) in contrast with the beautiful, ornate bands around the balconies.
Major Robert Smith’s most ambitious addition was the installation (in 1828) of a Mughal-style cupola (chatri) at the top of Qutub Minar. It came under sever criticism for its awkward design, which was out of sync with the intricate design structure of Qutub Minar. Twenty years later, in 1848, it was removed under instructions from the Governor General of India, Sir Henry Hardinge.
Today, Major Smith’s cupola lies in the South-East corner of the Qutub Minar complex.
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