JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



Part L— HISTORY, LITERATURE, &c. 



No. IV.— 1866. 



Notes on the History and Topography of the Ancient Cities of Delhi. 



By C. J. Campbell, Esq., C. E. 



Received 11th August, 1866. 



Save a "brief notice in Fergusson's Hand-Book of Architecture, the 

 only reliable information that we possess regarding the ancient cities 

 of Delhi, is to be found in the valuable contributions of Colonel Lewis, 

 Mr. Cope, and General Cunningham to the Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society. 



My object in writing clown the following notes has been, to supple- 

 ment their descriptions by such additional information as I have been 

 able to collect during a residence of more than six years in Delhi, in 

 which I have been favoured with more than ordinary opportunities for 

 studying the subject. I shall commence with the Musjid Kutb-ul- 

 Islam which, from its age and from the circumstances connected with 

 its construction, is by far the most interesting building in Delhi. 

 In describing it, General Cunningham has fallen into a slight error • 

 he attributes the whole of the additions, save only the Alai Durwaza, 

 to Shamsh-u-din Altamsh ; whereas we know from history, that that 

 monarch only constructed a small portion of them, the grand extension 

 towards the east having been erected by Ala-u-din in the beginning of 

 the 14th century. 



The portions built by these kings, as also the original work of 

 Kutb-ud-din Eibeg, can still be distinctly traced, and I shall now proceed 



