Ivi 



"Report of the Archaeological Survey. 



105. The object of building this lofty column seems to me to be 

 clear enough. The first Musalman conquerors were an energetic race, 

 whose conceptions were as bold and daring as their actions. "When 

 the zealous Muhammadan looked on the great city of Delhi, the 

 metropolis of the princely Tomars and the haughty Chohans, his first 

 wish would have been to humble the pride of the infidel ; his second, to 

 exalt the religion of his prophet Muhammad. To attain both of these 

 objects, he built a lofty column, from whose summit the Muazzins call 

 to morning and evening prayer could be heard on all sides by Hindus 

 as well as by Musalmans. The conqueror's pride was soothed by the 

 daily insult and indignity thus offered to the infidel, while his religious 

 feelings were gratified by the erection of a noble monument which 

 towered majestically over the loftiest houses in the city. 



106. The Kutb Minar as it stands now is 238 feet and 1 inch in 

 height, with a base diameter of 47 feet 3 inches, and an upper diameter 

 of nearly 9 feet. The base or plinth of the pillar is 2 feet in height, 

 the shaft is 234 feet and 1 inch, and the base or stump of the old cupola 

 is 2 feet more ; thus making the whole height 238 feet 1 inch. The 

 shaft is divided into five stories, of which the lower story is 94 feet 11 

 inches in height, and the upper story is 22 feet 4 inches, the two 

 measurements together being just equal to one-half of the height of the 

 column. The height of the second story is 50 feet 8f inches, that of 

 the third story is 40 feet 9^ inches, and that of the fourth story is 25 feet 

 4 inches, or just one-half of the height of the second story. There are 

 two other proportions which may be noticed, as they most probably 

 entered into the original design of the building. The column, as it 

 stands now, omitting only the stump of the old cupola, is just five 

 diameters in height ; thus, 47 feet 3 inches, multiplied by 5, gives 236 

 feet 3 inches as the height of the column, which is only 2 inches in 

 excess of the mean measurement. Again, the lower story is just two 

 diameters in height. Both of these proportions were, I presume, 

 intentional. But there is another coincidence of measurements, which 

 is, I think, too curious to have been intentional, namely, that the 

 circumference of the base is equal to the sum of the diameters' of the 

 six stories of the building, the old cupola being considered as a sixth 

 story. 



107. As some of the dimensions here given differ from those recorded 

 by Ensign Blunt in the Asiatic Eesearches, it is necessary that I 



