Qutb Minar Delhi 🇮🇳 Beautiful India

Qutub Minar and its monuments are a group of religious and funerary buildings that display the architectural and artistic achievements of early Islamic India. They're located in South Delhi. Lalkot is the first of the seven cities of Delhi established by the Tomar Rajput ruler Anangpal in 1060. The Qutub complex lies in the middle of the eastern part of Lalkot. Construction of the Might of Islam congregational mosque was begun in 1192 by Qutb-ud-Din Aibak and completed in 1198 using the demolished remains of Hindu temples. It was enlarged by Il-Tutmish and again by Alauddin Khalji. It's the earliest extant mosque built by the Delhi sultans. Il-Tutmish erected a massive stone screen of a lofty five arches in front of the mosque's prayer hall which imparted an Islamic character to the building. The screen is beautifully carved with borders of inscriptions and geometrical and arabesque design but the hand of the craftsman used to Hindu motifs is nonetheless clear in naturalistic curved lines. The mosque is built on a raised and paved courtyard measuring 43 by 32 meters surrounded by pillared cloisters. The Qutub complex is a fine example of the Indo-Islamic style of architecture. The artists employed by Aibak and Il-Tutmish were Hindus and the raw material was also obtained from existing Hindu and giant temples. The figures carved on the pillars were disfigured by them because the depiction of human and animal figures isn't By the time Alauddin Khalji came to power, Muslim rule was established in the country and there were many artists who came from Central Asia. Thus the difference in the buildings of the period of Qutub Aibak, Il-Tutmish and Khalji is prominent. The iron pillar in the mosque compound was brought from elsewhere in India. It bears a 4th century AD Sanskrit inscription describing the exploits of a ruler named Chandra, believed to be the Gupta king, Chandra Gupta II. The iron pillar is 7 meters in length, 1 meter of this being below ground. Qutub Minar is still the highest stone tower as well as one of the finest Islamic structures ever raised in India. The Qutub Minar is a column built of red and buff sandstone blocks rising to a height of 73 meters, tapering from 3 meters in diameter at the top to 14 meters at the base, making it the highest stone tower in India. In addition to its traditional use for calling the faithful to prayer, it also has a monumental purpose, since a later Nagari inscription calls it Alauddin's Victory Monument. In its present form it consists of five stories, the topmost of the original four stories having been replaced by two stories during the reign Each story is separated from the next by highly decorated balconies with pendentives and inscribed bands. The whole structure was originally surmounted by a cupola which fell during an earthquake and was replaced by a new cupola in late Mughal style in the early 19th century. This was so incongruous that it was removed in 1848 and now stands on the lawns to the southeast of the minaret. Qutubuddin Aibak laid the foundation of Qutub Minar for the use of Muazzin, which means crier, to give calls for prayer and raised the first story to which three more stories were added. At the end of the 12th century when the first Indian mosque was to be constructed in Delhi, India had been developing stone construction for thousands of years and its technology and aesthetics had almost reached the stage of perfection. Their religious backgrounds were Buddhism in ancient times, Hinduism and Jainism in the medieval period. As they were born in the same region and grew under the same climate, they didn't have architectural differences. However, Islamic architecture had grown under a completely different civilization and was alien architecture to India, having principles and a sense of beauty totally different from Indian traditional architecture. The Ali Darwaza, built in red sandstone and elaborately carved, is the southern entrance to the enlarged enclosure of the Qutub complex. The Ali Minar to the north of the enclosure is the base of a second minaret which was to have been taller than the Qutub Minar. It was begun by Allauddin Khalji but he died before it reached the first story and work on the structure was abandoned. In contrast to the existing Qutub mosque, which was built with the material of the existing temples on the site, the Ali Darwaza was a new structure. Its interior is clad with intricately carved red sandstone and white marble bands, carved with calligraphic inscriptions in knack script or geometric patterns. From its floor to its domed ceiling, its height is 14 meters. Its wide shallow dome rests on an octagonal base and the transition from the octagonal base to a circular dome is achieved with skill. The importance of the Qutub complex declined towards the end of the 13th century due to two major factors. One, the increasing water scarcity of the capital and two, the decision on the part of each new ruler to consolidate his political legitimacy by building a new city. The Qutub complex remains a highlight among subcontinental pre-Mughal Islamic architecture. In both the original Hindu temples and the later Muslim additions, the intricate stone carving and calligraphic work stand out. The complex also contains several smaller buildings, the tomb of Iltutmish, Ali al-Din Khalji's madrasa and the Imam Zamin mosque. The tomb of Imam Muhammad Ali, who was also known as Imam Zamin, sits on a raised platform. History has it that Imam Zamin was a Turkish saint who settled in India during the reign of Lodi. He, like many others, constructed his own tomb where he was buried, with complete rituals and honour after his demise. The dome of the tomb sits on a base structure shaped like an octagon, built of sandstone, while its interiors are perfectly polished with white plaster. Before the development of sculptural architecture by the use of stone in the Middle Ages, wooden architecture was the mainstream for ancient India. As wood decreased, monumental edifices came to be constructed of stone. However, in spite of using stone, Indians who'd been totally involved in the trabeated structure and the aesthetics of wood would continue to persist in trabeation, which means composing buildings with the post and beam method, treating stone as if it were wood. Since stone is strong against a compressive force but weak against a tensile force, it's not suitable to be used as Nevertheless, Indians persisted in the trabeated structure, and they eventually achieved even the realisation of enormous temples. However, they couldn't build a large span of interior space with that technique, having to stand many columns like a grove in large halls. Il-Tutmish doubled the size of the original enclosure of the Kuatul Islam Mosque, and added another screen of five arches to define the Qibla, the axis towards Mecca. This screen, though superficially the same as in the original mosque, had better stood the ravages of time. The main differences are in the detail, with the carving using a purer Islamic vocabulary, though here too in the sinuous curves, the hand of the indigenous craftsman is seen. The floriform low relief of the Qutub gives way to a far more geometric rigid style. This is by no means an advance over the Qutub Mosque. The arches seem almost a regression to a purer, stricter form of Islam, with their monolithic and sombre appearance. The fusion of the Arabs, the Seljuqs and later the Mongols, silhouetted the origin of Islamic architecture. Quite ideally therefore, the architectural element of Islamic architecture later became much more diverse. The combination of white marble and red stone carved in patterns of subtle curves, intricate geometrical designs and stalactiform devices, which stood as a stamp of Islamic architecture, murmurs the secrets of its oriental origin. In the Latin character of architecture, they used the Herodian system of stone bonding. Through this process, their masons were able to erect the solid walls, pointed arches of towers and superb vaulting. It's significant that these rows of pillars of massive piers and imposing arches are quite similar to the vaulted aisles of Gothic cathedrals. The tomb of Shams al-Din al-Tutmish is located in the northwest corner of the Qutub complex, next to al-Tutmish's own extensions to the Qutub Mosque. The square base of the tomb structure is transformed into an octagon overhead with odgy squinch arches. The structure has no dome or other roof. It's been conjectured that the original dome collapsed and it's also been noted that the exterior walls of the tomb are comparatively thin and might not have been able to support the outward thrust generated by a dome. The western wall facing Mecca houses the The Qutub complex is thus symbolic of Delhi's ability to assimilate, integrate and yet come up with something new and remarkable. This is further borne out by the fact that since medieval times, seven different cities of Delhi have sprung up and today's Delhi is a fusion of all these cities. The Qutub Minar is a living testimony to Delhi's venerable past.