Pixelated Memories: Qutbuddin Aibak

Showing posts with label Qutbuddin Aibak. Show all posts

December 16, 2012

Qutb Complex, New Delhi

When the turbulent forces of Islam swept into the Indo-Gangetic plains at the end of the 12th century, its encounter with the flourishing Hinduism was that of non-alikes. The clash over-awed those who witnessed it, & left behind its markings – in stone – to surprise the coming generations with its might & scale. The man leading this clash, Muizzudin bin Sam, more popularly known as Muhammad, the Sultan of the kingdom of Ghur in modern Afghanistan, led an army into India with the mission of plundering the incredible wealth of the Indian kingdoms & to convert them into his fiefs. Having accomplished it in AD 1192 after defeating the army of Prithviraj Chauhan, he retired back to his kingdom, leaving his favorite slave, who was also the commander of his powerful army, Qutbuddin Aibak, in-charge of this newly conquered land. Holding sway over this land of a foreign religion, Qutbuddin decided to leave an imprint of his religion here. Being a fanatic Muslim, he ordered destruction of Hindu & Jain temples that already existed in the country & selected a site in the then capital “Dhillipura” (Delhi’s medieval name!!) where he would build his dream project - a massive mosque & an equally massive victory tower to display the might of his faith. The site of Qutbuddin’s choice coincided with the fortress of Lal Kot, the stronghold of the Tomar-Chauhan dynasty, the last Hindu rulers of Delhi & the clan to which Prithviraj belonged. Over time, successive rulers of Delhi took it upon themselves to complete, or expand, as might be the case, this project of Qutbuddin. & almost a millennia later, the ruins that remain of these structures fall into what is now known as the Qutb Complex, one of the World Heritage Sites located in the barren lands of Mehrauli, Delhi.

The Qutb Complex is perhaps one of those places that I have longed to visit for an incredible span of time – I am perhaps one of those rare Delhi inhabitants who had not seen the Qutb Complex till late in their lives (I am only 20 though, but its late considering that the complex is one of the first places parents/relatives take kids to in Delhi!! Sadly, my parents did not take me for a visit to Qutb, or any other monument/heritage structure for that matter, despite it being only one & a half hour drive away from my home). But not anymore, I visited the complex sometime back & to my utter surprise, it turned out to be a sheer delight!! More incredible than what the photographs show, & much larger & pristine than what the articles/blogs tell. I have always been fascinated with history & heritage, read a lot about the monuments & cities of India. Delhi, my home state, has been built several times, it always rises like a phoenix every time a new marauding army or some other catastrophe puts an end to one of its ruling dynasties/kingships. The forts & ruins of Mehrauli were one of the earliest cities of Delhi & have been inhabited ever since, thus making the region the longest continuously inhabited settlement in Delhi. I had read so much about the Qutb Complex & its neighboring monuments/ruins that I knew almost everything about these structures even before going there. But being there & standing under these majestic structures is an incredible experience in itself – the construction here is at such a gigantic scale that it takes one’s breathe away!! However, since there is so much to see in the complex, so many ruins, new & old, scattered across that I decided to break this one long post into several smaller ones (links at the bottom!!) since this way I can easily share a lot of details & the plethora of photos I took (seriously I took almost 400 photos in the complex itself!!).

The Qutb Minar

The most stupid thing about the complex is perhaps its ticket counter – it is situated across the road, opposite the complex - & I could see many tourists going behind the ticket counter to look for the entrance to the complex, but only to find a parking lot filled with buses & taxis. A.S.I. could at least have put signboards here outside indicating directions. The best thing perhaps would be the availability of “audio guides” – you can rent these from the ticket counter itself. All the monuments within the complex are numbered, & you can simply skip to the numbered audio clip in order to know more about its history & construction. The tickets themselves are electronically numbered & at the gatepost outside the complex, guards with electronic readers swipe your tickets to mark your entry into the complex. So far I haven’t seen a similar system in any other complex/world heritage site in India – at all other protected monuments you are simply handed a paper ticket that a guard tears into two at the entrance. Even though this electronic ticket system works without any glitches, I still don’t understand why it was implemented in the first place - the paper ticket seemed to be working just fine. I, like several others who observed this new system, sincerely hope that this system helps curb malpractices in manual ticket sale & revenue collection. Every year, the Qutb Complex receives more number of visitors than even the Taj Mahal, & generates approximately Rs. 100 million in ticket sales. (Reference - "Times of India" article)

Once inside the complex gates, the first structure one notices are the arches under which one has to pass through. These two arches were added to the complex much later by Mughal emperors & formed part of what was once a Serai (inn for travelers & state guests). The Serai exists only in parts now – remnants of walls here & there, some semi-collapsed rooms & several chattris (small dome-like structures supported on thin pillars). However the mosque adjoining this Serai, called the Mughal mosque still exists & is located next to the Complex’s in-house publication shop. The Mughal mosque, though appearing to be dilapidated, has been maintained in a rather unusual manner – its insides have been painted with bright colors – orange, pink & white – giving it a rather funky touch.

The Mughal Mosque

The Qutb Minar stands in the background, a sentinel made of red sandstone, looking over all the proceedings that take place under its (high) watch. Qutbuddin, whose own name means the “Staff of God”, wanted this tall minaret to symbolise his eternal faith & act as an axis for Islam, hence he named this minaret Qutb Minar or “Axis of God”. However Qutbuddin himself was able to complete only the first floor of the minaret, the latter floors were added by other rulers of Delhi, including Qutbuddin’s son-in-law Shamsuddin Iltutmish (1211-36 AD). Feroz Shah Tughlaq (1351-88 AD), the guy who constructed the fortress of Kotla Feroz Shah, also added two floors made of white marble to the minaret after one of the floors built by Iltutmish was destroyed by a lightning strike. Qutbuddin had perhaps wanted his minaret to stand next to his mosque as a victory tower commemorating the establishment of Islamic rule over India. However several contradicting & at times absurd (although interesting) theories also exist about the construction of the Minar, do refer the long post about the minaret for the same. The Qutb Minar is the tallest brick minaret in the world, surpassing by several meters the Minaret at Jam, Afghanistan, that inspired Qutbuddin to embark upon his minaret-building project.

One enters the huge rectangular mosque built by Qutbuddin inside which Qutb Minar stands – his real intentions behind building this mosque were to overawe his new subjects & provide a symbol of faith to his war-fatigued soldiers. 27 temples – some of Hindu religion, other belonging to Jain faith – were fell & local artisans were employed to use the building material from these temples to construct this mosque in order to show the “Quwwat” or might of Islam. Hence the mosque came to be called Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque. In Qutbuddin’s time, Qutb Minar used to stand outside the mosque, but when Iltutmish ascended the throne of Delhi after murdering Qutbuddin’s son Aram Shah, he decided to enlarge the existing mosque & even included the mighty Qutb Minar within its four walls.

The symmetrical cloisters of Quwwat Mosque

One can notice large arches that once formed part of the mihrab (the wall indicating the direction of Mecca, to be faced by Muslims when offering prayers). These arches form part of the screen constructed by Qutbuddin in AD 1199 & were extended by both Iltutmish & Alauddin Khilji (1296-1316 AD). However, only the original arches & the additions by Iltutmish exist today. The Hindu craftsmen employed to build this arch screen had never seen calligraphy on any structure & when ordered to weave Quranic inscriptions in the screen of the mosque, the artisans found themselves at a loss. They left their individualistic marks in the screen in the form of floral carvings & tendrils at the end of these calligraphic strokes. The mosque & its screen arches display a fusion of Hindu & Islamic art forms unlike any other in the world.

In front of this arched screen stands the famous “Iron Pillar”. It is said that the pillar predates the complex by several centuries & formed part of a Vishnu temple. Known globally for its non-rusting properties, this pillar too has its fair share of stories & myths. Many claim that if you are able to grasp the pillar in your arms with your back towards it, your dreams would come true. Being superstitious, the people of the country (& some foreigners too) had started trying the task, their sweat causing corrosive damage to the pillar. Hence in order to protect the pillar, the A.S.I. decided to encircle it with an iron grille – of course this one does get rusted with time.

The mosque has several small arched entrances & windows (many covered by jaalis (stone fretwork), others open), one amongst these is called Alai Darwaza (“Alauddin’s Doorway”). As the name suggests it was built by Alauddin Khilji, & standing on a very high pedestal, this doorway is actually more of a small room, itself pierced on four sides by large arched doors. The Darwaza is very beautifully decorated with designs & geometrical patterns on both inside & outside surfaces. The symmetry in these patterns is simply mind-numbing, the artists went so far as to even cut the designs so as to form locking patterns with the stairs leading down the pedestal.

Down the Darwaza’s pedestal & up another pedestal in front of it, one reaches the tomb of Imam Zamin. A saint from Turkestan who decided to settle in India during the reign of Sultan Sikandar Lodi in 16th century, Zamin was perhaps some important official in Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, which explains the location of his tomb bang next to the mosque. However historians date its construction to the time of Mughal emperor Humayun. The small tomb houses a marble sarcophagus, a well-chiselled mihrab & some very symmetric fretwork in the carved stone walls.

A small doorway breaks the continuity of the low courtyard walls of the pedestal on which stands Zamin’s Tomb. In the surrounding grounds, one can spot the ruins of several room-like structures, an extremely small wall mosque standing atop another high pedestal & a sundial affixed atop a circular piece of stone. Standing neaby is the cupola constructed by Major Smith of British Royal Engineers, now referred to as Smith’s Folly. At one time this cupola surmounted the Qutb Minar, but it was subsequently brought down, & now lies ignored in a desolate corner of the complex, with some brooms & squirrels for company.

The ruined Wall Mosque

Moving along the periphery of the Quwwat mosque, towards the back of the arched screens are ruins of massive rooms & chambers – these formed part of Alauddin’s Madrasa – a religious school he added to the mosque. Within a part of the Madrasa, Alauddin himself lies buried, but the dome of his tomb fell away a long time back. The Madrasa & Tomb sub-complex runs almost parallel to the shorter sides of the rectangular Quwwat mosque.

Situated some metres ahead of the madrasa is the tomb of Iltutmish. It is interesting to note that after having made so many additions & contributions to the complex, both Iltutmish & Alauddin decided to be interred here, Built of red sandstone, Iltutmish’s tomb appears a simple structure from the outside – striking calligraphy & patterns embellish one of its sides, the other three are plain. But on the inside, the tomb is lavishly carved with so many intricate designs, it is simply a treat to look at, & one simply gets confounded thinking about all those designs & wondering what to photograph & what not to. One excellent thing about the complex is that it is very disabled-friendly, & ramps exist along almost every structure, including Iltutmish’s & Alauddin’s tombs, for ease of wheelchair access.

Having run around & photographed to my satisfaction almost all the built monuments within the complex, I next headed to the Alai Minar, a large rubble-dressed tower built by Alauddin which was intended to be twice the size of Qutb Minar, but could not be completed due to the untimely death of Alauddin.

Smith's Folly (Background - Qutb Minar, Alai Darwaza & Zamin's Tomb)

The Qutb Complex, despite once being the capital of the Muslim Sultans, fell out gradually from map after Alauddin Khilji built his nearby fortress of Siri & abandoned the existing capital of Lal Kot with most of his population. The Complex was soon reclaimed by wilderness & turned into the ruins that we see today. Magnanimously, these ruins still betray their once stunning grandeur.

Studded with sophisticated calligraphy, ornate designs & patterns, & replete with exemplar craftsmanship, Qutb is one of the most fascinating monuments in Delhi. Hopefully I shall be returning to Mehrauli sometime soon to visit other nearby heritage structures. The place has certainly found a way to my heart. Returning back, I even spotted one of Metcalfe’s Ziggurats peeping out of a grilled complex besides Qutb Complex. Anxious to return & explore more of the area!!

Open: Sunrise to Sunset
Entrance fee: Indians - Rs 10, Foreigners - Rs 250 (Free for children upto the age of 15).
Photography charges: Nil
Video charges: Rs 25
Nearest Metro Station: Saket Metro Station & Qutb Minar Station are equidistant.
How to reach: Taxis, buses & autos can be availed from different parts of the city. The structures are quite a walk from the metro stations & one will have to take bus/auto from there on.
Time required for sightseeing: 3 hrs
Facilities available: Wheelchair access, Audio guides.
Relevant Links -

Also See - Pixelated Memories - Kotla Feroz Shah

December 06, 2012

Mihrab Screens, Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, New Delhi

Hinduism & Islam are two very different religions – different in almost every aspect, from their customs & religions, to their belief systems & lifestyles, as well as architecture & construction. When it comes to construction, Islam is a comparatively much simpler religion, the mosque & the towers being relatively simple structures with ornamentation consisting of geometrical patterns, designs & Quranic inscriptions. Hinduism, on the other hand, is known far & wide for its varied forms of architecture, the better-than-life representations of humans, flowers, animals & deities. Abounding with more than 330 million Gods & Goddesses within the Indian subcontinent only, along with its plethora of life-form depictions, Hindu artists of India & South-East Asia at large have excelled at creating stone masterpieces with their blade & chisel, their art & craft continuing in the same form over millennia – one looks at the erotic sculptures of Khajurao (Madhya Pradesh) & the modern representations of God in Akshardham (New Delhi, refer Pixelated Memories - Akshardham Temple Complex), & is forced to wonder at their uniqueness. It is no wonder that when the adventurous forces of Islam led by Muizuddin ibn Sam aka Muhammad of Ghur (Afghanistan) first swept into the Indian subcontinent to face the mighty Hindu army led by the Rajput Prithviraj Chauhan, it was a battle between unequals. Prithviraj’s army was routed, & within a short span of time, these Muslim invaders settled in India & the relative periods of peace-time saw them shifting their attention from wars & defences to the culture & traditions that existed within the country. The new rulers of Delhi Sultanate took to wanton destruction of the Indian sculptures & temples, irrespective of the faith they represented (Hindu, Buddhist, or Jain), often replacing the said temples with mosques, & many a times utilizing the debris & construction material from the felled temple for construction of new structures. Hindu artists & craftsmen were forced to work at these new buildings, & were required to construct these structures while keeping Islamic tenets of art & architecture in mind. The artists, who were used to constructing only pyramidal temples & palaces till now were asked to build mosques, minarets & domed chambers. Often the artists, facing unforeseen situations & demands from their new masters, innovated with the material at hand, creating new architectural forms. The Islamic architecture too underwent a gradual change, thus the Sultans started burying their dead in large, fancy tombs & inlaying their forts & tombs with precious gems & stones, a practice almost unseen in the Islamic world, except perhaps in Egypt. Since Islam forbids the representation of any kind of life form, initially the Muslim rulers & commanders decreed the destruction of Indian sculptures & representations, but over time the Indian style of adding floral motifs & medallions & imbibing creeper-like curved line forms in their buildings started making an appearance in Muslim buildings too. A new fusion art was created by merging several key features of both these forms, stunning enough to awe the spectators, & unique enough to allow classification. This sea change in both these religion’s architectural practises is glaringly visible in Qutb Complex, New Delhi. While we have a huge Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque moulded out of the remains of 27 Hindu & Jain temples that were destroyed by Qutbuddin Aibak, the slave & commander of Muizuddin ibn Sam, we also have the mighty Qutb Minar where calligraphy bands of Quranic inscriptions are bordered by magnificent floral bands (Links at the end of the post).

The arched screens of the Qutb/Qutub Mosque (Photo courtesy - Wikipedia.org)

But nowhere is this gradual Islamisation of Indian art, or rather Indianisation of Islamic patterns & designs, more visible than in the screens of the Quwwat mosque that Qutbuddin constructed in AD 1199. The screens are actually large arches that form one of the smaller sides of the rectangular courtyard of the mosque. While Qutbuddin only constructed three arches as part of his original plan for the mosque, today we see remains of several more arches. These were added later by Shamshuddin Iltutmish (1211-36 AD) & Alauddin Khilji (1296-1316 AD), later Sultans of Delhi who extended the Quwwat mosque & added several new features in order to show their gratitude to the Almighty.

The screens were fashioned after the “Maqsara” (Screen in front of the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina) & used to function as the Quwwat mosque’s mihrab (wall indicating the direction of Mecca, faced by Muslims when offering prayers). The central arch constructed by Qutbuddin measured 16 metre high & 6.7 metre wide. The other two arches added by Qutbuddin on either side of the central arch were significantly smaller, but similar in design. The screens are carved with borders of Quranic inscriptions & geometrical designs. However since they were carved by Hindu artisans, who excelled in the depiction of life forms, one notices an abundance of floral designs along the length of the screen. The Hindu artists left the mark of their religion on these Islamic screens in the form of calligraphic strokes woven in stone that end in beautiful petals & tendril bursts. Moreover the Hindu craftsmen had never before seen or used arches in their construction practices, as the Hindu architecture is trabeate in nature & makes use of stone beams & panels to join two separate points/pillars instead of arches. Now forced to visualize in stone their master’s demands, the intelligent craftsmen that they were, the Hindu workers came up with a new architectural form employing corbelled arches – stones place atop each other to form a door-like structure, the inner sides of which were then rounded off to give an arch-like appearance. The innovative craftsmen were able to fool around their masters by adding a few triangular stone pieces at the apex of the arch to give it the appearance of a true arch!! The Quranic inscriptions that fill these screens, surrounded by panels of floral designs, seem not to be the work of mere humans. Notes Hasan Nizami, the chronicler of Qutbuddin, in his book Taj-ul-Maasir “..upon the surface of the stones were engraved verses of the Quran in such a manner as could be done on wax..”

Notice how the calligraphic strokes culminate into floral bursts

By the time Iltutmish ascended the throne of Delhi after murdering Aram Shah, Qutbuddin’s son & successor, the Muslims had imported some of their architectural knowledge to India & taught the same to the Hindu artists. Thus we see the use of fairly complex calligraphy characters & advanced Islamic designs in Iltutmish’s screens. These were however similar in overall form & design to Qutbuddin’s arches. Both Qutbuddin & Iltutmish were fairly dependent on construction material pilfered from existing temples within the country, but decided to build these arches with material fresh from quarry & carved according to their own specifications. This is in contrast with the overall structure of the Quwwat mosque & the extensions made by Iltutmish, which both are constructed from material obtained after destroying Hindu-Jain temples. The arches built by Alauddin did not survive the test of time & have been lost to nature.

The mosque & its screen arches display a fusion of Hindu & Islamic art forms unlike any other in the world. & the intricate designs, in all their majesty, glistening in the morning sun, outrival all other structures built even with modern technological aids. A marvel, simply worth observing from up close!!

Location : Qutb Complex, Mehrauli, New Delhi
Open : Sunrise to Sunset
Entrance fee : Indians - Rs 10, Foreigners - Rs 250 (Free for children upto 15 years of age).
Photography charges : Nil
Video charges : Rs 25
Nearest Metro Station : Saket Metro Station & Qutb Minar Station are equidistant.
How to reach : Taxis, buses & autos can be availed from different parts of the city. The structures are quite a walk from the metro stations & one will have to take bus/auto from there on.
Time required for sightseeing : 30 min
Facilities available : Wheelchair access, Audio guides.
Relevant Links -

Qutb Minar, New Delhi

Two questions have perhaps always confused historians & scholars when it comes to the famous Qutb Minaret in Delhi – One, who constructed this mighty minaret, & what was the purpose of its construction?? & two, why was the minaret named as it is??
If the first question was answered, the second could be easily explained. But that’s wherein the problem lies – nobody knows who constructed the Qutb Minar in the first place. Perhaps one of the most widely known spots in Delhi, the Qutb Minar is full of enigmas & among the several theories in circulation, here are a few more commonly heard ones –

The minaret was constructed by ancient Indian kings for the famous astrologer-mathematician Aryabhatta to climb up away from the city life & lights & study the night sky.
Hindu Rajput ruler Prithviraj Chauhan built the minaret for his wife/daughter to climb upon to view the slowly slithering river Yamuna from as part of her daily morning prayers.
The minaret’s construction was started either by Prithviraj or his uncle Vigrahraj to serve as a watch tower for the Hindu kingdom ruled by Chauhan dynasty, but was completed by Qutbuddin Aibak, the slave & army commander of Muizuddin bin Sam aka Muhammad Ghuri, when he led his master’s Islamic forces to victory against Prithviraj in AD 1192.
The minaret was entirely constructed by Qutbuddin Aibak as a victory tower commemorating his master’s ascension to the throne of India after defeating the forces led by Prithviraj.
The minaret was constructed by Qutbuddin Aibak when he became the Sultan of India after his master’s death, but as a tower for the muezzin to climb on & call the faithful Muslims for prayers in the adjoining Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque that was commissioned by him to display to his Hindu subjects & the world at large the might of Islam.
Iltutmish, who became Sultan after killing Aram Shah, Qutbuddin’s son, built the minaret & named it after Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, popularly called Qutb Sahib, a leading Sufi saint of that period who used to live & is buried nearby.

Bewildering!! The first three points can of course be disregarded, given that neither the pillar is so old, nor does it show any signs of Hindu art or design, rather it boasts skilled Islamic calligraphy & patterns (more on that later). But then none of the records of that period attribute the minaret to Qutbuddin or Iltutmish either. It is much later, when the minaret was damaged by lightning & repaired by later kings that Iltutmish’s name popped up. But modern history books credit Qutbuddin for the minaret’s construction. My friend Vikramjit Singh, who is perhaps one of the most learned authorities when it comes to the built heritage of Delhi, suggests that the tower was built by Iltutmish & wrongly attributed to Qutbuddin by the writ of some clerical/historian error. I would highly recommend his take on this issue here – Vikramjit Singh Rooprai - Untold Story of the Qutub Minar

An enigma after more than 800 years of its construction

The most accepted theory is actually a mix of all these claims, & propounds that Qutbuddin started the construction of the Qutb Minar at the site of Prithviraj’s fortress-capital Lal Kot as a victory tower but died much before he could complete it. He left behind only the ground floor of the minaret which comprises of alternate circular & triangular fluting. Inscriptions carved in the minaret give us its complete history, including the commencement of construction & subsequent repairs, though the shoddy work by some of the later restorers have rendered most of these inscriptions unintelligible. After ascending the throne of Delhi, Iltutmish decided to fulfill Qutbuddin’s unfinished legacy & added three more floors to the tower. The first floor therefore features only circular fluting, while the second floor boasts of triangular fluting only. These fluting are very precisely aligned so as to create a highly symmetrical structure. The minaret till this part is built of red sandstone & is calligraphed with bands of Quranic inscriptions.

The three original floors - Notice how the lowest floor has alternate circular & angular fluting, the next has only circular fluting & the third has only angular fluting.

Sadly, the third floor was destroyed when lightning struck the tower in AD 1368, & we have no idea of what it looked like. Feroz Shah Tughlaq (AD 1351-88), the architect-emperor of Delhi, who took an uncanny interest in building new cities (read Feroz Shah Kotla, Pixelated Memories - Feroz Shah Kotla) & repairing existing structures, replaced the remnants of the third floor with two comparatively smaller floors of his own. Fatuhat-i-Ferozshahi, a chronicle of Feroz’s rule notes that he “repaired the minar of Sultan Muizuddin, which had been struck by lightning, & raised it higher than before”. This is congruent with the fact that Feroz added two small floors which together were slightly taller than the fallen floor of Iltutmish. It must be noted that Iltutmish’s floor was more proportional to the bottom floors as compared to these replacements. By the time Feroz became the emperor of India, Indian art & architecture were Islamized to a large extent & the Muslim rulers had become habitual to the use of stone & marble that was easily available in India. Hence his additions feature the use of smooth panels made of white marble & contrast with the overall red of the tower. Feroz went ahead to even add a cupola atop the tower, thus crowning the minaret with his own extensions.

One of the marble floors added by Feroz

Sikandar Lodi too repaired the minar after lightning again struck it in 1503 AD. Sikandar refers to the Qutb Minar as “the minar of his majesty Shamshuddin (Iltutmish)” in his memoirs. But nature had its way again, & lightning again destroyed Feroz’s cupola & damaged the other floors. The British were gaining a foothold in India then & Major Robert Smith of British Army Engineers was asked to repair the damaged minaret. Smith too couldn’t bear the lure to add more floors atop this already huge minaret & crowned it with his own Bengali-style cupola. Before nature could intervene again, Lord Hardinge, then Governor-General of India, ordered Smith’s cupola be brought down & cast it away to a corner of the Qutb Complex where it still lies, christened with the horrific title of a folly, viz. Smith’s Folly (refer Pixelated Memories - Smith's Folly). Nonetheless, Smith has been largely appreciated for his restoration & conservation work within the Qutb Complex. Since then several glass tubes have been embedded within the structure of the minaret to monitor seismic activities. If the tubes break, it would act as a signal to the archaeologists & engineers to begin pre-emptive restoration work. The minaret is already slightly leaning some two feet off the perpendicular as a result of the various lightning storms & earthquakes it has withstood in the past 800 years. Given its tall height, the tower is literally asking for lightning attacks. “Lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice” is complete bullshit!! Lightning always hits the tallest point in a neighbourhood, & the Qutb Minar is a glaring example of the same.

An artsy shot!!

The fact that the minaret has largely withstood the ravages of time & nature has been attributed to the use of lime mortar & rubble masonry in its construction, which are both tremor-absorbing agents. Also the minaret stands on rocky landscape, which further mitigates the impact of earthquakes. However the minaret is being more damaged by rainwater seepage through its structure, increasing its tilt by several more degrees. The A.S.I. has started implementing several measures to arrest the condition & prevent a further deterioration.

The tapering tower is 73 meters tall & its diameter decreases from 14.32 meter at the base to 2.75 metre at the top. Unlike the adjacent Quwwat mosque (see Pixelated Memories - Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque), the minaret is Islamic in its construction, & features Islamic patterns such as Quranic inscriptions & calligraphy, & Hindu patterns appear only in the small floral bands that flank these inscriptions.

Inscriptions galore..

What I found the most interesting were the projecting balconies of the minaret that separate the different floors. These balconies are so skilfully constructed out of stone that they appear like very delicate bee combs. The details are carved out so meticulously, adhering to all the basic principles of geometry & Islamic architectural practices, & even today the intricate patterns tend to attract & bind one’s gaze. This type of design – a series of mini-arches supporting a series of brackets that together hold the entire balcony - is referred to as stalactite vaulting & features throughout Islamic construction & architecture. The arches of the minaret are corbelled in nature – the straight pieces of stone are placed in order & then their inner corners are rounded off to give the complete structure an arch-like appearance. The Indian artists set to work on these structures by their new masters were unaware of what arches were as Hindu architecture is largely trabeate (makes use of stone panels & beams to fill space, as in above entrances & in ornamentation work), & hence they came up with this new technique of building corbelled arches. Creative, right??

Spell-binding

One can see a door on each floor opening up to the balcony, & a total of 379 steps make up the staircase leading to the top of the world (or Delhi at least!!). Major Smith has often been criticized for adding Gothic features to the doorways when he was restoring them. But a close inspection shows that these additions are not Gothic in nature, but resemble the kanguras (battlement-like decorative work) that actually do make an appearance in the later Indo-Islamic architecture, especially in the doorways above the first floor of the Qutb Minar itself. I still vividly remember the thrilling climb up the narrow & winding staircases of the gigantic minarets of the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi (though they too are small when compared to Qutb Minar, refer Pixelated Memories - Jama Masjid) & would have loved to climb to the top of the Qutb Minar!! But the Government has closed the minaret for public entry since the year 1981 when a power outage & subsequent lights-out led to a stampede within the minaret & death of several visiting school children.

Door to nowhere

The Qutb Complex has been included in the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites & attracts more tourists than the famous mausoleum called Taj Mahal!! A picture of the minaret also features on the cards & tokens issued by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, & the HOHO Bus Tour of Delhi also makes a stop at the Qutb Complex. I gave the complex a miss when I went for a HOHO tour almost a year back.

Alauddin Khilji (AD 129-1316), a later emperor of Delhi, initiated the construction of the Alai Minar within the Qutb Complex. It was supposed to be another victory tower commemorating his successful military campaigns in central India & was to be twice the height of Qutb Minar. Sadly, Alauddin died before he could give a concrete shape to his minaret & left behind only the undressed ground floor. One is again forced to return to the question of who built the Qutb Minar, because if Qutbuddin is credited for commencing its construction, he too died leaving behind only the ground floor of his minaret. If his successors took up his unfinished business, why did not, or why could not, Alauddin’s successors do the same?? Read about the Alai Minar here – Pixelated Memories - Alai Minar

One last click

The victory tower of Qutbuddin was inspired by the Minaret of Jam (Afghanistan) from what I have read. But what if the other group is right & this wasn't a victory tower, but a religious tower. In fact, Qutb Minar literally translates to “Axis Minaret”, & given that Qutbuddin himself was a fanatic Muslim who destroyed several Hindu & Jain temples to construct his Quwwat mosque, he might just have wished for a religious super-tower to act as a new axis for his faith. In that case he would not have intended the minaret to be so high, right?? Maybe he just wanted it to be a single floor high, else how would his muezzins be heard from the tall tower. Maybe that’s why lightning struck the tower again & again!! Now ain’t I also speculating like several of the historians who delved into these mysteries & left behind more questions than answers!!

The minaret of Jam (Photo courtesy - Lonelyplanet.com/Afghanistan)

Location : Qutb Complex, Mehrauli, New Delhi
Open : Sunrise to Sunset
Entrance fee : Indians - Rs 10, Foreigners - Rs 250 (Free for children upto 15 years of age).
Photography charges : Nil
Video charges : Rs 25
Nearest Metro Station : Saket Metro Station & Qutb Minar Station are equidistant.
How to reach : Taxis, buses & autos can be availed from different parts of the city. The structures are quite a walk from the metro stations & one will have to take bus/auto from there on.
Time required for sightseeing : 30 min
Facilities available : Wheelchair access, Audio guides.
Relevant Links -

November 21, 2012

Alai Darwaza, New Delhi

This article is part of the series about Qutb Complex, Delhi. Refer Pixelated Memories – Qutb Complex for the composite post.

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“It is about a century more modern than the other buildings of the place, and displays the Pathan style at its period of greatest perfection, when the Hindu masons had learned to fit their exquisite style of decoration to the forms of their foreign masters…This building, though small – it is only fifty-six feet square externally, and with an internal apartment only thirty-four feet six inches in plan – marks the culminating point of the Pathan style in Delhi. Nothing so complete had been done before, nothing so ornate was attempted by them afterwards…Externally, it is a good deal damaged, but its effect is still equal to that of any building of its class in India."

– James Fergusson, 19th century architectural historian and explorer

After returning successful from his Deccan campaigns, Alauddin Khilji (reigned 1296-1316 AD), the second Sultan of the medieval short-lived Khilji Dynasty that ruled over vast territories extending from North India and Pakistan to Bengal in east and Deccan in south, decided to show his gratitude to God by embarking on an ambitious project to enlarge the mosque built by Qutbuddin Aibak and extended by Shamshuddin Iltutmish, previous rulers who established Muslim rule over India and helped propagate it further respectively. Alauddin’s ambitions had no seams – he planned to expand the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque in Delhi to over three times its original size, add ceremonial gateways to the mosque in all directions, provide for a massive madrasa (Islamic school for religious learning) adjacent to the mosque, build more floors atop the already existing Qutb Minar and even add a new minaret nearby that was supposed to be twice the height of Qutb Minar (see links in the end). But the Sultan died soon after initiating his new projects, only a few of them could be completed, the rest were abandoned. The Sultan’s new minaret – the Alai Minar – stands nearby with only its first floor completed, his madrasa which also houses his tomb is in ruins, the extensions he made to the mosque are almost all lost to the ravages of time and nature, of the four gateways he intended to give to the mosque he could build only the southern one. Incidentally this gateway – the Alai Darwaza – built in 1311 AD, is now the prestige of the mosque and the entire Qutb Complex (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) by extension.

Chiseled to perfection - Alauddin's ornamental gateway

Noteworthy for its architecture, the gateway, built of red sandstone and furnished with an inlay of white marble in the forms of bands and panels, is actually more of a small square room than a literal gateway. Sitting atop a high plinth, it is pierced by arched doorways on all its sides – the one facing the mosque is slightly circular, while the rest are horse-shoe shaped arches with arrow-like indentations across their curved surface – interestingly, only the face facing the mosque courtyard is devoid of any ornamentation, the other faces are literally brimming with decorative designs taking the form of geometric patterns and Quranic inscriptions in advanced calligraphy. Exceptionally symmetrical, it appears not to be a work of mortal humans. Distinct from the earlier structures within the Qutb complex, it is the first structure in the country to employ true Islamic construction practices, especially symmetry and geometrical accuracy, and was a product of the architectural acumen and skilled handiwork of the Turkish artists whom the Sultan specially brought to India and who shaped the stone with their chisel and blades according to the Sultan’s fancies. Moreover, the gateway is historically one of the most important buildings in the entire complex since the architecture employed in its erection had just made crossroads in the Indian subcontinent – the use of true arches and proper domes as opposed to trabeated arches or squinches supporting the massive domes was a result of the architectural knowledge imparted by the builders brought in by the Muslim overlords of a largely Hindu country with Hindu architectural and artistic practices. On the outside, bands of marble and sandstone add a certain flair to the gateway’s surface – these bands, depicting various geometrical and floral patterns, cover the gateway’s entire surface, even forming a pattern so as to lock with the stairs symmetrically too, the patterns are such exquisitely carved that one is forced to reflect upon the merit and skill of the craftsmen who sculpted these.

An old illustration of the gateway - Contrast the abundance of vegetation and creepers with the modern, dry, lifeless setting. In comparison to this illustration , the present "restored" gateway looks plastic-like! (Photo courtesy - Columbia.edu)

Travelling through India, the famous 19th-century American orientalist painter, Edwin Lord Weeks, who also happened to be a renowned travel writer and an avid student of architectural history, extolled the magnificent gateway thus –

"A remarkable and rare use of the Moorish horseshoe arch occurs in the building known as the gateway of Alah-ou-din at Old Delhi, erected about 1310. This is regarded as the most ornate example of Pathan work, and...is similar to that of many other Mussulman buildings, resembling in some respects the entrances of the mosque at Cordova, (although) many of the ornamental details and patterns are purely Hindoo, and of course peculiar to India."

The carvings and patterns contrast with the low dome of the gateway, a plain structure devoid of any kind of adornment except a small circular finial. Again, inside the chamber, fairly simple work on the concave surface of the spherical roof contrasts with the wonderfully designed recessed corners and patterned doors. Arching jaalis (stone lattice screens), sculpted with great labor, cover the walls and act as a source of natural light for the chamber.

The high walls, with their embellishments and motifs present numerous photography compositions, and once the sun is high in the sky, the light entering from the jaalis and the doors and the receding shadows inside form supplementary patterns, there for all to see. The various features of the gateway, deteriorated over time, were extensively restored by Major Smith of the British Royal Engineers in 1828. Major Smith also restored the Qutb Minar and the Quwwat mosque and is also credited for the construction of the cupola now referred to as Smith’s Folly (refer Pixelated Memories - Smith's Folly).

The multiple patterned bands ornamenting the exterior walls of the gateway near the base - such is the precision with which these bands have been carved that they even lock with the staircases!

I was recently reading “Delhi: Past and Present” by historian H.C. Fanshawe, here is how he extols the striking gateway –

“The Alai Darwazah is not only the most beautiful structure at the Kutab Minar, but is one of the most beautiful specimens of external polychromatic decoration not merely in India, but in the whole world, while the carving of the interior may challenge comparison with any work of the kind. Both exterior and interior merit detailed and leisurely examination”

Inscriptions frame the arched doorways of the Darwaza, and refer to “Abul Muzaffar Muhammad Shah” (Alauddin Khilji) as having been responsible for the extensions and facelift of the mosque. Gazing at the gateway one wonders what striking specimens of architecture the Sultan would have conjured up had he lived long enough to build all the gateways and the intended Alai Minar.

The view from the hillock that faces the Qutb complex on this side. The small tomb adjacent is that of Imam Zamin, a priest at the Qutb mosque (Photo courtesy - Wikimedia.org)

Location: Qutb Complex, Mehrauli, New Delhi
Open: Sunrise to Sunset
Entrance fees: Indians: Rs 10; Foreigners: Rs 250
Photography charges : Nil
Video charges: Rs 25
Nearest Metro Station: Saket Metro Station and Qutb Minar Station are equidistant.
How to reach: Taxis, buses and autos can be availed from different parts of the city. One can avail a bus/auto from the metro stations.
Time required for sightseeing: 20 min
Facilities available: Wheelchair access, Audio guides.
Relevant Links -

Suggested Reading -

November 08, 2012

Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, New Delhi

India has seen riots in the name of religion, mosques & temples have been destroyed by one community or the other, either to forward their petty constituencies, or in retaliation. Yet India is perhaps the only country where religion exists in every nook & cranny – films are made on religious issues, TV serials depicting the ancient lore of Mahabharata & Ramayana are household names, political parties are accused of being run by religious groups, or being “pseudo-secularists”, & as a recent Hindi movie put it bluntly “The population going to temples far outsmarts those going to schools”. The Quwwat mosque, literally translating to “the might of Islam”, is perhaps the earliest example where this religious zeal, or fanaticism rather, comes into daily social life & administrative affairs. When the Sultan of Ghur (in modern Afghanistan), Muizuddin Muhammad bin Sam, more popularly known as Muhammad Ghuri, invaded India in 1192, he met a fierce resistance in the form of the troops organized by the Rajput Prithviraj Chauhan. Yet he was able to reroute the “Hindu” army & establish “Islamic” rule over India. But he did not stay long in the country to oversee its affairs, & left for his kingdom leaving behind his slave & army commander Qutbuddin Aibak. Now Qutbuddin was a very loyal servant, he wanted to forward his master’s name & claim even more. Also he was a man guided by his religious zeal, even his name translates to “the Staff of God”. Guided by these two precise reasons, he began construction of the massive tower called Qutb Minar to celebrate his master’s victory over the infidel land, & the adjoining Quwwat mosque to act as a beacon of faith for his soldiers fighting in an unruly land of foreign religion & incessant enemy attacks, & also to send a message of the strength & battle competency of his Islamic forces to his enemies.

The roof of one of the temples that Qutbuddin destroyed, now incorporated within the mosque framework

He ordered destruction of several temples of Hindu & Jain religions, & 27 of them were razed to provide building material for the Quwwat mosque. Since then has continued the tradition of Muslim Sultans felling temples in the country & occasionally Hindu right-wing groups destroying mosques built by the same Sultans over their religious grounds. In all this conundrum, what I find the most intriguing is the question "why did the Sultans fell the temples in the first place?” What were the reasons, apart from their beliefs & abhorrence to infidel religions, to undertake such extreme steps, despite often being connoisseurs of art & architecture & themselves being learnt scholars well-versed in several arts, languages & poetry?? Qutbuddin destroyed these temples because these were not in accordance with Islamic tenets that forbid representation of deities & humans & other living beings. & yet used the same material that he detested in the construction of his mosque, after some minor disfigurement – just enough to deface the sculptures but retain their overall design & largely Hindu identity. Couldn’t he bring himself to destroy those flawless pieces of art?? Why did he leave the celebrated Iron Pillar standing at its original position despite destroying the temple around it?? Couldn’t he bear the loss of this metallurgical wonder??

Another roof left intact. Do observe the well-proportioned stonework in the roof features.

In an aside from this, Feroz Shah Tughlaq, often given the sobriquet of “the architect-emperor”, built several canals, palaces, fortresses, mosques & madrasas, laid roads, repaired existing tombs & other structures (including Qutb Minar), & built his magnum in the form of the huge capital city called Feroz Shah Kotla (refer Pixelated Memories - Feroz Shah Kotla for more details & photographs of Feroz's citadel), but he destroyed the famous Jwalamukhi Temple in Nagarkot & Jagannath Temple in Jajnagar after successful military campaigns to these kingdoms. However his inconsistent iconoclasm is revealed when he brings the Ashokan Pillars from Meerut & Topra to be put up in Delhi (one of them stands in Kotla Feroz Shah, the other exists near Hindu Rao Hospital). Why did he not destroy these pillars?? Finbarr Flood in his essay “Islam, Iconoclasm and the Early Indian Mosque” argues that these temple-destructions should be seen as political measures rather than religious ones. Mostly the Muslim Sultans destroyed only those temples that were close to the Indian kings, while often systematically preserving & providing financial assistance to other temples. Their only motive in doing so was (Courtesy - Sarson ke Khet - Four Ghurid Mosques) to shatter the relationship between the king & deity, & to disrupt the belief that the king’s authority to rule stems from the divine rights bestowed upon him by the Hindu Gods. Of course, Finbarr doesn’t explain the levy of Jazia (religious tax) on Hindus & other religious sects by Muslim rulers. In the memoirs called Taj-ul-Maasir, Hasan Nizami, Qutbuddin’s chronicler, notes “It was the custom after the conquest of every fort & stronghold to grind its foundations & pillars to powder under the feet of fierce & gigantic elephants”.

Portion of the mosque, along with Alai Darwaza (the domed chamber) adjoining it.

Back to the topic, the Quwwat mosque is the oldest mosque in India, built almost a millennia back, yet it does not show any signs of its old age, & has not lost its aura & grandeur. Enclosing a large rectangular courtyard (65.2 X 45.4 metres), the mosque is built on the site of an existing Hindu temple called “Elbut-khana” (accounts of Ibn Batuta, a Moroccan traveller & chronicler to India & Asia). The entire mosque stands on a high platform, & as one climbs up the stairs & enters the mosque, some of the features that are immediately noticeable are – Qutb Minar standing near a corner of the mosque, the Iron Pillar standing in the centre of the courtyard close to the side opposite the Qutb Minar (see Pixelated Memories - Iron Pillar), giant arches that stand close to the Iron Pillar & give the impression of being one of the sides of the mosque (but without any continuation with any of the existing portions of the mosque), a few graves also lie in the courtyard of the mosque (but I don’t know whom do they belong to), & besides several entrances & latticed windows there is a large gateway called Alai Darwaza situated very close to the Qutb Minar. The mosque constitutes of the open courtyard which is surrounded on three sides by cloisters, the only distinguishing feature of these being that the roofs rest on very intricately carved pillars. These pillars were part of the temples that Qutbuddin destroyed – the pillars from Jain temples have geometrical patterns & lines engraved on them, while those from the Hindu temples are sculpted to show sophisticated Brahminical motifs such as Kalash (a ceremonial pot) overflowing with creepers & fluids (maybe wine & nectar) signifying prosperity, bells, lotuses & other flowers. The fourth side, or whatever is left of the elaborate arches, also functioned as mihrab (wall indicating the direction of Mecca, faced by Muslims when offering prayers). I don’t think I am qualified enough to pass a critique on these terrific sculptures. Hence I would just post (a lot of) photographs of these pillars & cloisters.

Cloisters surrounding the open courtyard (I was trying to take not-so-cliché photographs!!)

Walking under these cloisters, noticing the rows of these elaborate pillars & their different designs, one also comes across the unique temple ceilings that break the monotony of these simple stone & rubble cloisters. These ceilings are such wonderful pieces of art, orange-red-yellow in colour, one mistakes them for being made of wax rather than stone.

More cloisters - This one seems a rather cliché image!! Also visible is the cup of one of the temple roofs.

Plaques were installed within the walls of the mosque by Qutbuddin & offer details of the mosque’s construction that went on from 1192-1198 AD under the authority of Muizuddin ibn Sam. Also it has been mentioned that 27 temples were annihilated to make way for this mosque. Qutbuddin calls the Quwwat mosque a Jami mosque (mosque used for Friday congregational prayers), & given that he built his own capital over Prithviraj Chauhan’s city of Qila Rai Pithora (close to Qutb Complex), he might just have appeared every Friday for prayers at the Quwwat mosque. The mosque is so large that one has to spend more than an hour going through its courtyard & observing the various designs on its pillars & screens.

The original plaque installed by Qutbuddin

The screens were a much later addition to the mosque. Qutbuddin initiated their construction & built a large central arch (6.7m wide and 16m high) & two smaller side arches. The screens are carved with borders of Quranic inscriptions & geometrical designs. However since they were carved by Hindu artisans, who excelled in the depiction of life forms, one notices an abundance of floral designs along the length of the screen, even the calligraphic strokes end in beautiful petals & floral bursts.

The mosque's screens - Sadly only Qutbuddin's original screens & Iltutmish's additions remain now (Photo courtesy - wikipedia.org)

Besides the screens are several sections that clearly show the remnants of Hindu architecture – bell-&-chain motifs stretch across the length of these pillars, while several deities & nymphs look on from the top of these pillars. Although these have been disfigured, yet are very easily identifiable. Since Qutbuddin put Indian artisans to work on his mosque, these pillars simply show the malleability of the artists & craftsmen who simply moulded a mosque from these remains, & that too according to the specifications of their new lord. Even many of the dome-like roofs are directly sourced from Hindu temples, & it is interesting to note how several columns of varying designs were accommodated in a mishmash to create this fairly extravagant mosque with no attention to the uniqueness of these pillars. & yet the symmetry these artists obtained, setting two (& even three) rows of pillars around the courtyard. As Percy Brown in his book “Indian Architecture: Islamic Period” put it bluntly “the first Islamic building in India of dressed stone was, at its best, a patchwork of older material, beautiful in detail, as its arcaded aisles were composed of pillars carved in the most perfect Hindu style, but as a whole a confused and somewhat incongruous improvisation.”.

Hindu designs on the mosque's pillars

When Qutbuddin constructed the mosque in the name of his master, it was not as large & spectacular as it is today. Qutb Minar was supposed to be an adjoining victory tower. After his master’s death, Qutbuddin crowned himself Sultan of India (ruling from 1206-10 AD) & began what was to be later known as the rule of the Slave Dynasty. Shamshuddin Iltutmish (1211-36 AD) ascended the throne after assassinating Qutbuddin's son & successor Aram Shah, & added greatly to the proportions & might of this mosque & extended it to even include the gigantic Qutb Minar within its courtyard. Iltutmish also added new screen arches in continuation with the ones built by Qutbuddin. Portions of these arches still stand, although in discontinuity, since most of them were destroyed over time. These arches show a difference in design when compared to Qutbuddin’s arches, since by now the Hindu artists too had starts understanding Islamic construction practices & used nature depiction in their sculptures to a comparatively lesser extent. Later another ruler of Delhi, Alauddin Khilji (1296-1316 AD), again extended the mosque & added more screen arches. However Alauddin’s arches are now lost due to the ravages of time & weather. He also added a new gateway to the mosque, christened as Alai Darwaza after him, that still exists & extols the craftsmanship of the artists & sculptors who built it.

Disfigured deities atop one of the pillars

Ironically, the decline of the mosque began during the reign of Alauddin who shifted his capital to the newly built citadel of nearby Siri & abandanod the previous capital of Lal Kot/Qila Rai Pithor which had continued to be the seat of Delhi sultanate since Qutbuddin established his so-called “Slave rule” over India. Read more about Alauddin's love-hate equation with God here - Pixelated Memories - Alauddin's Tomb & Madrasa Complex

One of my favorite specimens from within the mosque - A temple roof that now surmounts one of the cloisters of the mosque

I would have perhaps advised you to go see the mosque yourself, but then I hope the photographs here did their charm (OK, I concede I am proud of these pics, they came out good, didn't they??).

Location : Qutb Complex, Mehrauli, New Delhi
Open : Sunrise to Sunset
Entrance fee : Indians - Rs 10, Foreigners - Rs 250
Photography charges : Nil
Video charges : Rs 25
Nearest Metro Station : Saket Metro Station & Qutb Minar Station are equidistant.
How to reach : Taxis, buses & autos can be availed from different parts of the city. The structures are quite a walk from the metro stations & one will have to take bus/auto from there on.
Time required for sightseeing : 30 min
Facilities available : Wheelchair access, Audio guides.
Relevant Links -