1866.] Notes on the Topography &c. of Delhi. 207 



Ala-u-din built a fort, or city, called Siri : secondly, that lie rebuilt 

 the walls of the ancient citadel of Delhi ; and, thirdly, that he built 

 a palace* on the spot where he intrenched himself during the Mogul 

 invasion of A. D. 1803. 



There is much that is plausible in General Cunningham's arguments, 

 but a little consideration reveals their weakness, which, indeed, 

 appears at times on the very surface, as, for instance, where he admits 

 (page lxix.) that the present walls of the Kutb citadel were rebuilt by 

 Ala-u-din, although he has already described them as the work of 

 Anang Pal: — and again, at page lxviii., where he confounds the 

 palace built on the site of Ala-u-din's entrenchment with the famous 

 Kasr Hazar Situn ; forgetting that this latter was commenced by 

 Nasir-u-din Mahmud, and completed by Ghaias-u-din Balban at least 

 fifty years before the Mogul invasion. f 



Let us first endeavour to ascertain, from their style and charac- 

 teristics, the age of the present ruins of Shahpoor and of the Kutb 

 citadel. The walls of the latter are very strong and massive ; the 

 curtain is flanked by towers placed at short intervals ; the ditch is 

 deep and broad ; the main gates are judiciously set in the re-entrant 

 angles of the bastions ; strong outworks are thrown up at the weak 

 points of the defences ; — all this marks a late date, when the science 

 of fortification was well matured and thoroughly understood. This 

 view is confirmed by the existence of an arch with true voussoirs in a 

 barbican at the north-west angle, the shape of which is exactly 

 similar to those generally used by Ala-u-din. It forms an integral 

 portion of the wall in which it occurs, and has evidently been there 

 from the first ; whilst the style of the masonry, and tbe manner in 

 which it is bonded in with the main wall, shew distinctly that the 

 barbican is of the same date as the rest of the walls, and we have 

 thus proof positive that these, as they now stand, are the work of 

 Ala-u-din and not of Anang Pal. 



At Shahpoor then are the remains of a palace and city wall of no 

 great size or strength. The style of these, as shewn in the shape of the 

 arches, walls and domes, is that of the end of the fourteenth or begin- 



*Be it observed that this is always spoken of as a palace, and not as 

 a city or fort. 



f In the Ayin Akhberi a palace of this name is said to have been built by 

 Mahommed Togluck, but I believe this to be a mistake. 



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