Report of the Arclceological Survey. xxxix 



learn from Ferishta * were equal to one Eupee. The cost of each, of 

 these temples would not therefore have been more than Es. 40,000, 

 and that of the whole number, only Es. 10,80,000, or £108,000. The 

 cost of these temples seems excessive when expressed in such small 

 money as Dilials ; each coin being worth only a little more than a 

 half-penny \ but the sum is moderate enough when it is named in 

 Eupees. 



74. Mr. Fergussonf has expressed an opinion that " it is not easy 

 to determine whether the pillars now stand as originally arranged 

 by the Hindus, or whether they have been taken down and re- 

 arranged by the conquerors." In this instance he thinks it " most 

 probable that the former was the case, and that they were open 

 colonnades surrounding the palace of Prithivi Eaja ;'.' but he presently 

 adds that " if this is so, it is the only instance known of Hindu pillars 

 being left undisturbed." When Mr. Fergusson formed this opinion, 

 he was not aware of the fact recorded over the eastern gateway by 

 the Musalman conqueror, that the Great Masjid had been built of the 

 materials of no less than twenty -seven Hindu temples. He knew only 

 the common tradition that on this site once stood the palace and 

 temple attributed to Prithivi Eaja. On this account he may have 

 supposed that most of these pillars must have belonged to those 

 buildings, and therefore that they might possibly still be in their 

 original positions. But evidently he had strong doubts on the subject, 

 for he repeats his opinion that " if the pillars at Kutb are in situ, it 

 is the only instance known of such being the case." In February 

 1853 I examined very minutely the pillared cloisters of the Great 

 Mosque, and I then came to the conclusion, as recorded in my Note- 

 book at the time, that " the square about the Iron Pillar is all made 

 up ; the outer walls are not Hindu ; the pillars are all made up of 

 pieces of various kinds ; the shaft of one kind being placed above 

 that of another for the purpose of obtaining height. The general 

 effect is good ; but a closer inspection reveals the incongruities of 

 pillars, half plain and half decorated, and of others that are thicker 

 above than below." Just ten years later in January 1803, with Mr. 

 Fergusson's book in my hand, I re-examined the whole of these pillars 

 with exactly the same result. Every single pillar is made up of two 

 separate Hindu shafts, placed one above the other ; and as these shafts 

 # Briggs, I, 360. f Hand-book of Architecture, I, 418. 



