lii 



Report of the Archaeological Survey* 





have only one Minar even down to so late a date as the middle of the 

 13th century. 



98. 2nd. — It is objected that the slope of the Kutb Minar is much 

 greater than that of any other known Minars. This objection has 

 already been satisfactorily answered by Colonel Sleeman, who says 

 truly that " the slope is the peculiar characteristic of the architecture 

 of the Pathans." 



99. 3rd.— Syad Ahmad agrees that, if the Minar had been intended 

 as a Mazinah to the Great Mosque, it would have been erected at one 

 end of it, instead of being at some distance from it. In reply to this 

 objection I can point again to the Koel Minar, which occupies exactly 

 the same detached position with regard to the Jama Masjid of Koel 

 as the Kutb Minar does with respect to the Great Mosque of Delhi. 

 Both of them are placed outside the south-east corner of their respec- 

 tive Masjids. This coincidence of position seems to me sufficient to 

 settle the question in favour of the Kutb Minar having been intended 

 as a Mazinah of the Great Mosque. 



100. 4th. — Syad Ahmad further argues " that the entrance door 

 faces the north, as the Hindus always have it," whereas the Muham- 

 madans invariably place it to the eastward, as may be seen in the 

 unfinished " Minar of Ala-uddin to the north of the Kutb Minar." 

 Once more I appeal to the Koel Minar, which, be it remembered, was 

 erected by the son of the Emperor who completed the building of the 

 Kutb Minar, and which may therefore be looked upon as an almost 

 contemporary work. In the Koel Minar the entrance door is to the 

 north, exactly as in the Kutb Minar. In both instances, I believe 

 that it was so placed chiefly for the convenience of the Muazzin when 

 going to call the faithful to prayer. I think, also, that Syad 

 Ahmad has overlooked the fact that the Minars of modern days are 

 " engaged" towers, that is, they form the ends of the front wall of the 

 Mosque, and, as the back wall of every Mosque is to the westward^ 

 the entrances to the " engaged" Minars must necessarily be to the 

 eastward. But the case is entirely different with a solitary disengaged 

 Minar of which the entrance would naturally be on the side nearest 

 to its Masjid. But waiving this part of the discussion, I return to 

 the fact that the entrance of the Koel Minar is to the northward 

 exactly the same as in the Kutb Minar, and that the entrances to the 

 two great tombs of Bahdwal Hah and Buhi-uddin in Multan are not 



