• Unknown (author)

Manuscript describing the Qutb complex, Delhi, India

manuscript written between 1857 and 1860

sheet: 18.9 x 12.0 cm

PH1988:0380:039

inscribed - on a sheet, by an unknown hand, in pen and black ink, from top to bottom: "The Kootab [sic] Minar about / 11. Miles from Delhi - has suffered / from lightnings & earthquakes / was repaired by govt about 1826. / £ 2 000. / Highest pillar in the world 238.1 / high 47.2 diameter at base - / Appears to have been completed / about A.D. 1235. / Kootub [sic] oodeen [sic] succeeded / Shahab oodeen [sic] at Delhi about / 1206. / It was probably begun if not / finished much more anciently [sic] / by the Hindoos [sic] as the door is / on the North not [underlined] East. It has / bells sculptured on the bands / which indicate the Hindoos [sic] / as builders - bells are used in / idol worship but they would / be an abomination to Mahomedans [sic]"; and on the verso, from top to bottom: "The iron pillar is one of / the most curious monuments / in India - a solid shaft of / mixed metal more than 16./ inches in diameter 50. feet / in length - 22 feet above ground / weighs probably over 17. tons. / Probably erected by Rajah / Dhava [sic] A.D. 819. This sovereigns [sic] / name is imprinted on it - / But popular legend gives / the credit of the digging up / to Rajah Pithara the last / of the Hindoo [sic] sovereigns - / who was defeated by Shahab-oodeen [sic]"

Delhi; Delhi (Union Territory); India;

• architecture

• ruins
• tower (single built work)
• mosques
• tombs
• minaret
• architectural history