XXVI 



Meport of the Archaeological Survey. 



Kutb Masjid. Syad Ahmad has read the unit of this date as gxw, 

 Saba, or 7, whereas it is clearly and unmistakeably £**3, tisa, or 9. 

 The error has arisen from the omission of the two points of the initial 

 letter in Syad Ahmad' s plate of this inscription. My attention was 

 particularly drawn to this date by Mr. Thomas' note on Syad Ahmad's 

 date, which, as he says, " anticipates the epoch ordinarily assigned to 

 the Muhammadan conquest of India, by two years." I examined 

 this portion of the inscription minutely with a telescope, and I found 

 the two dots or points of the inital letter of ^, tisa, which are 

 omitted in Syad Ahmad's lithographed copy of the inscription, are 

 quite distinct, one over the other, between the words Sanh and wa, 

 and immediately over the unit of the date, which is placed below 

 those words. The date of the capture of Dilli, as here given by 

 Kutb-uddin himself, is therefore the year A. H. 589, which began on 

 7th January, 1193. 



48. The only work which is attributed to Prithvi Eaja is the 

 extensive fort to the north and east of Anang Pal's Laikot, which is 

 still called Kilah JRai Pithora or "Pithora's Fort." From the 

 north-west angle of Laikot the lines of Eai Pithora's walls can still 

 be distinctly traced, running towards the north for about half a mile. 

 From this point they turn to the ?outh of east for one and a half 

 miles, then to the south for one mile, and lastly, to the west and 

 north-west for three-quarters of a mile, where they join the south- 

 west angle of Laikot, which being situated on higher ground, forms a 

 lofty citadel that completely commands the Fort of Eai Pithora. 

 The entire circuit of the walls of the two forts is 4 miles and 3 

 furlongs, or rather more than half the size of the modern city of 

 Shahj ahanabad. 



49. Up to this point I have endeavoured to trace the outline of 

 the history of Hindu Dilli, partly from existing monuments, partly 

 from inscriptions, and partly from other records, both printed and 

 manuscript. The history of Muhammadan Dilili, or Delhi, according 

 to our corrupt spelling, will be found in ample detail in Ferishta and 

 other Moslem authors. I will now therefore confine my remarks to 

 a description of the many noble remains of by-gone days, which, either 

 by their, grand size, their solid strength, or their majestic beauty, still 

 proudly testify that this vast waste of ruins was once Imperial Delhi, 

 the Capital of all India. 



