204 Notes on the Topography &c. of Delhi. [No. 4, 



' first Patlian kings it was different ; and there is a strange mingling of 

 Saracenic design with Hindu construction, that is not a little curious. 

 Thus, the idea of the Kuth Minar is horrowed from those still stand- 

 ing on the plain of Grhazni : — the great arches were of Mahommedan 

 design, and so too was the square massive tomh of Altamsh. The 

 details of the ornamentation are also more decidedly Saracenic than is 

 generally supposed ; thus the curious battlements over the second 

 and third doorways in the minar are almost exact copies of those in 

 the mosque of Kalaon at Cairo, (built A. D. 1284), whilst the honey- 

 comb work under the balconies of the same structure, differs in no 

 perceptible degree from that in the Alhambra at Granada. But, side 

 by side with much that is purely Saracenic, we find many details 

 that are indisputably Hindu in character, as, for instance, the bell and 

 chaplet ornament ; the wheel roses ; the lozenge inside an oblong 

 pannel ; and the scroll tracery on Kutb-ud-din's arches ; whilst the 

 arches are all horizontal and of purely Hindu construction. 



The explanation of this phenomenon is a simple one : — the early 

 Mahommedan settlers were rude soldiers, too much occupied with 

 hard fighting ±o settle down into artizans ; their leaders might find 

 leisure to plan and design, but for the actual execution of their 

 projects they were compelled to depend upon the conquered people, 

 who, in carrying out their orders, introduced many of those details 

 with which the practice of centuries had familiarised them. 



Kutb Minar. 



General Cunningham has written so fully and carefully on the 

 subject of the Mahommedan origin of this column, that a few brief 

 notes are all that need be added here. That Kutb-ud-din designed and 

 commenced it, is generally considered to be proved by the occurrence 

 in the lower story of Mahammad Grhori's name, (shewing that it 

 was begun in his lifetime, and therefore in that of Kutb-ud-din) ; 

 and also from its bearing the name of this latter monarch. Its 

 position with regard to Kutb-ud-din and Altamsh's work, may be 

 adduced in favour of this view. 



It stands symmetrically enough as regards the former, opposite to 

 and just outside the south-east corner, but with the colonnades of 

 Altamsh it fits in altogether awry, standing just 11 feet outside the 



