Iviii 



■■Report of the Archaeological Survey* 



height of the Kutb Minar in 1794 must have been 236 feet 1 inch 

 plus 14 feet 10 inches, or 250 feet 11 inches. 



109. The base or plinth of the Kutb Minar is a polygon of 24 

 sides, each side measuring 6 feet \\ inches, or altogether 147 feek 

 The basement story has the same number of faces formed into convex 

 flutes, which are alternately angular and semi-circular. This last fact 

 alone is sufficient to show the inaccuracy of Blunt's description of the 

 plan as a polygon of 27 sides, # as any uneven number of faces would 

 have brought two flutes of the same kind together. In the second 

 story the flutes are all semi-circular, and in the third story they are 

 all angular. The fourth story is circular and plain, and the fifth 

 story is partially fluted with convex semi-circular flutes. Eound the 

 top of each story runs a bold projecting balcony, which is richly and 

 elaborately decorated. The three lower stories are also ornamented 

 with belts of Arabic writing, bordered with richly decorated bands. 

 These three stories are built entirely of red sandstone, but there is a 

 difference in the colours of the stone, that of the second story being 

 generally a pale pinkish buff, while that of the third story is a dark 

 red. The whole of the upper part of the fourth story is built of 

 white marble, and there are also two ornamental bands of white 

 marble in the fifth story* According to Ibn Batuta,f the pillar was 

 said to have been built " of stones from seven different quarries ;" but 

 I could not trace more than three different kinds of stone, viz., the 

 grey quart zose rock of Delhi, the white marble of Jaipur, and the 

 red sandstone of the hills to the south of Delhi. If, however, the 

 different colours of the sand-stone be taken into account, there are 

 certainly three distinct colours, or buff, pink, and red, which may be 

 considered as forming three distinct varieties of sand-stone. The 

 grey quartzose stone is used only in the interior of the building, and 

 the white marble is confined to the two upper stories. Inside the 

 pillar there is a spiral stair-case of 376 steps from the ground level 

 to the balcony of the fifth story. Above this, there are three steps 

 more to the present top of the stone-work, which once formed the 

 floor of the paltry pavilion which Major Robert Smith was allowed to 

 stick on the top of this noble column. 



110. In 1794, when Ensign Blunt sketched the Kutb Minar, the 



* Asiatic Kesearches of Bengal, IY. 3 324. 

 t Travels— p. 111. 



