Report of tie Arclceological Survey. xlvii 



gate, by which they had entered Lalkot, the citadal of the Hindu Kings. 

 But though the first Musalman Kings did not build huge forts or 

 extensive cities to perpetuate their names, yet in the Great Mosque 

 and magnificent column of Kutb-uddin Aibeg, as well as in the richly 

 carved tomb of Altamish, they have left behind them a few wonderful 

 works, which are in every way more worthy of our admiration. 



90- The Great Mosque of Kutb-uddin was called the Jama 

 Masjid, according to the inscription over the inner archway of the east 

 entrance. But it is now more commonly known as the Masjid-i-Kutb- 

 ul Isldm, or the " Mosque of the Pole Star of Islamism," a name which 

 appears to preserve that of its founder. It seems probable, however, 

 that the Kutb Mosque, as well as the Minar, may have been named 

 after the contemporary Saint Kutb-uddin UsM, whose tomb is close by ; 

 Syad Ahmad adds that the Mosque was also called the Adina Masjid. 

 This Great Mosque, which even in ruin is one of the most magnificent 

 works in the world, was seen by Ibn Batuta # about 150 years after its 

 erection, when he describes it as having no equal, either for beauty or 

 extent. In the time of Timur, the people of old Delhi prepared to 

 defend the Great Mosque, but they were all, according to the Muham- 

 madan Historian Sharif-uddin, despatched by the sword " to the deepest 

 hell." The Mosque is not mentioned by Baber, although he notices 

 the Minar and the tomb of Khwaja Kutb-uddin, which he perambu- 

 lated.f It is not mentioned either by Abul Fazl ; but no inference can 

 be drawn from his silence, as he does not even allude to the Kutb Minar. 

 The Minar itself was repaired during the reign of Sikandar Lodi ; but 

 we hear nothing of the Great Mosque, from which, perhaps, it may be 

 inferred either that it was still in good order, or that it was too much 

 ruined to be easily repaired. I conclude that the latter was the case, 

 as it seems probable that the permanent removal of the Court from 

 Delhi to Firuzabad must have led to the gradual abandonment of the 

 old city. We have a paralled case in the removal of the Hindu Court 

 from Kanoj to Bari in the time of Mahmud of Ghazni. This removal 

 took place in A. D. 1022 and in A. D. 1031, or within ten years, 

 Abu Kihan records that Kanoj having been deserted by its ruler, " fell 

 to ruin." 



9.1. The Great Mosque of Kutb-uddin was begun immediately after 

 the capture of Delhi in A. H. 589, or A. D. 1193, as recorded by the 

 * Travels, p. 111. | Memoirs, p. 308. 





