The Kutb Minar was, I think, more beyond my expectations than the Taj; first, because I had heard less of it; and secondly, because it stands as it were alone in India--there is absolutely no other tower in this Indian empire of ours.[15]

Large pillars have been cut out of single stones, and raised in different parts of India to commemorate the conquests of Hindoo princes, whose names no one was able to discover for several centuries, till an unpretending English gentleman of surprising talents and industry, Mr. James Prinsep, lately brought them to light by mastering the obsolete characters in which they and their deeds had been inscribed upon them.[16] These pillars would, however, be utterly insignificant were they composed of many stones. The knowledge that they are cut out of single stones, brought from a distant mountain, and raised by the united efforts of mult.i.tudes when the mechanical arts were in a rude state, makes us still view them with admiration.[17] But the single majesty of this Minar of Kutb-ud- din, so grandly conceived, so beautifully proportioned, so chastely embellished, and so exquisitely finished, fills the mind of the spectator with emotions of wonder and delight; without any such aid, he feels that it is among the towers of the earth what the Taj is among the tombs--something unique of its kind that must ever stand alone in his recollections.[18]

It is said to have taken forty-four years in building, and formed the left of two 'minars' of a mosque. The other 'minar' was never raised, but this has been preserved and repaired by the liberality of the British Government.[19] It is only 242 feet high, and 106 feet in circ.u.mference at the base. It is circular, and fluted vertically into twenty-seven semicircular and angular divisions. There are four balconies, supported upon large stone brackets, and surrounded with battlements of richly cut stone, to enable people to walk round the tower with safety. The first is ninety feet from the base, the second fifty feet further up, the third forty further; and the fourth twenty-four feet above the third. Up to the third balcony, the tower is built of fine, but somewhat ferruginous sandstone, whose surface has become red from exposure to the oxygen of the atmosphere. Up to the first balcony, the flutings are alternately semicircular and angular; in the second story they are all semicircular, and in the third all angular. From the third balcony to the top, the building is composed chiefly of white marble; and the surface is without the deep flutings. Around the first story there are five horizontal belts of pa.s.sages from the Koran, engraved in bold relief, and in the Kufic character. In the second story there are four, and in the third three. The ascent is by a spiral staircase within, of three hundred and eighty steps; and there are pa.s.sages from this staircase to the balconies, with others here and there for the admission of light and air.[20]

A foolish notion has prevailed among some people, over-fond of paradox, that this tower is in reality a Hindoo building, and not, as commonly supposed, a Muhammadan one. Never was paradox supported upon more frail, I might say absurd, foundations. They are these: 1st, that there is only one Minar, whereas there ought to have been two-- had the unfinished one been intended as the second, it would not have been, as it really is, larger than the first; 2nd, that other Minars seen in the present day either do not slope inward from the base up at all, or do not slope so much as this. I tried to trace the origin of this paradox, and I think I found it in a silly old 'munshi' (clerk) in the service of the Emperor. He told me that he believed it was built by a former Hindoo prince for his daughter, who wished to worship the rising sun, and view the waters of the Jumna from the top of it every morning.[21]

There is no other Hindoo building like, or of the same kind as this;[22] the ribbons or belts of pa.s.sages from the Koran are all in relief; and had they not been originally inserted as they are, the whole surface of the building must have been cut down to throw them out in bold relief. The slope is the peculiar characteristic of all the architecture of the Pathans, by whom the church to which this tower belongs was built.[23] Nearly all the arches of the church are still standing in a more or less perfect state, and all correspond in design, proportion, and execution to the tower. The ruins of the old Hindoo temples about the place, and about every other place in India, are totally different in all three; here they are all exceedingly paltry and insignificant, compared with the church and its tower, and it is evident that it was the intention of the founder to make them appear so to future generations of the faithful, for he has taken care to make his own great work support rather than destroy them, that they might for ever tend to enhance its grandeur.[24] It is sufficiently clear that the unfinished minar was commenced upon too large a scale, and with too small a diminution of the circ.u.mference from the base upwards. It is two-fifths larger than the finished tower in circ.u.mference, and much more perpendicular. Finding these errors when they had got some thirty feet from the foundation, the founder, Shams-ud-din (iltutmish), began to work anew, and had he lived a little longer, there is no doubt that he would have raised the second tower in its proper place, upon the same scale as the one completed. His death was followed by several successive revolutions; five sovereigns succeeded each other on the throne of Delhi in ten years.[25] As usual on such occasions, works of peace were suspended, and succeeding sovereigns sought renown in military enterprise rather than in building churches. This church was entire, with the exception of the second minar, when Tamerlane invaded India.[26] He took back a model of it with him to Samarkand, together with all the masons he could find at Delhi, and is said to have built a church upon the same plan at that place, before he set out for the invasion of Syria.

The west face of the quadrangle, in which the tower stands, formed the church, which consisted of eleven large arched alcoves, the centre and largest of which contained the pulpit. In size and beauty they seem to have corresponded with the Minar, but they are now all in ruins.[27] In the front of the centre of these alcoves stands the metal pillar of the old Hindoo sovereign of Delhi, Prithi Raj, across whose temple all the great mosque, of which this tower forms a part, was thrown in triumph. The ruins of these temples he scattered all round the place, and consist of colonnades of stone pillars and pedestals, richly enough carved with human figures, in att.i.tudes rudely and obscenely conceived. The small pillar is of bronze, or a metal which resembles bronze, and is softer than bra.s.s, and of the same form precisely as that of the stone pillar at Eran, on the Bina river in Malwa, upon which stands the figure of Krishna, with the glory around his head.[28]

It is said that this metal pillar was put down through the earth, so as to rest upon the very head of the snake that supports the world; and that the sovereign who made it, and fixed it upon so firm a basis, was told by his spiritual advisers that his dynasty should last as long as the pillar remained where it was. Anxious to see that the pillar was really where the priests supposed it to be, that his posterity might be quite sure of their position, Prithi Raj had it taken up, and he found the blood and some of the flesh of the snake's head adhering to the bottom. By this means the charm was broken, and the priests told him that he had destroyed all the hopes of his house by his want of faith in their a.s.surances. I have never met a Hindoo that doubted either that the pillar was really upon this snake's head, or that the king lost his crown by his want of faith in the a.s.surance of his priests. They all believe that the pillar is still stuck into the head of the great snake, and that no human efforts of the present day could remove it. On my way back to my tents, I asked the old Hindoo officer of my guard, who had gone with me to see the metal pillar, what he thought of the story of the pillar?

'What the people relate about the "kili" (pillar) having been stuck into the head of the snake that supports the world, sir, is nothing more than a simple _historical_ fact known to everybody. Is it not so, my brothers?' turning to the Hindoo sipahis and followers around us, who all declared that no fact could ever be better established.

'When the Raja,' continued the old soldier, 'had got the pillar fast into the head of the snake, he was told by his chief priest that his dynasty must now reign over Hindustan for ever. "But," said the Raja, "as all seems to depend upon the pillar being on the head of the snake, we had better see that it is so with our own eyes." He ordered it to be taken up; the clergy tried to dissuade him, but all in vain.

Up it was taken--the flesh and blood of the snake were found upon it- -the pillar was replaced; but a voice was heard saying: "Thy want of faith hath destroyed thee--thy reign must soon end, and with it that of thy race."'

I asked the old soldier from whence the voice came.

He said this was a point that had not, he believed, been quite settled. Some thought it was from the serpent himself below the earth, others that it came from the high priest or some of his clergy. 'Wherever it came from,' said the old man, 'there is no doubt that G.o.d decreed the Raja's fall for his want of faith; and fall he did soon after.' All our followers concurred in this opinion, and the old man seemed quite delighted to think that he had had an opportunity of delivering his sentiments upon so great a question before so respectable an audience.

The Emperor Shams-ud-din iltutmish is said to have designed this great Muhammadan church at the suggestion of Khwaja Kutb-ud-din, a Muhammadan saint from ush in Persia, who was his religious guide and apostle, and died some sixteen years before him.[29] His tomb is among the ruins of this old city. Pilgrims visit it from all parts of India, and go away persuaded that they shall have all they have asked, provided they have given or promised liberally in a pure spirit of faith in his influence with the Deity. The tomb of the saint is covered with gold brocade, and protected by an awning--those of the Emperors around it he naked and exposed. Emperors and princes lie all around him; and their tombs are entirely disregarded by the hundreds that daily prostrate themselves before his, and have been doing so for the last six hundred years.[30] Among the rest I saw here the tomb of Mu'azzam, alias Bahadur Shah, the son and successor of Aurangzeb, and that of the blind old Emperor Shah Alam, from whom the Honourable Company got their Diwani grant.[31] The gra.s.s grows upon the slab that covers the remains of Mu'azzam, the most learned, most pious, and most amiable, l believe, of the crowned descendants of the great Akbar. These kings and princes all try to get a place as near as they can to the remains of such old saints, believing that the ground is more holy than any other, and that they may give them a lift on the day of resurrection. The heir apparent to the throne of Delhi visited the tomb the same day that I did. He was between sixty and seventy years of age.[32]

I asked some of the attendants of the tomb, on my way back, what he had come to pray for; and was told that no one knew, but every one supposed it was for the death of the Emperor, his father, who was only fifteen years older, and was busily engaged in promoting an intrigue at the instigation of one of his wives, to oust him, and get one of her sons, Mirza Salim, acknowledged as his successor by the British Government. It was the Hindoo festival of the Basant,[33] and all the avenues to the tomb of this old saint were crowded when I visited it. Why the Muhammadans crowded to the tomb on a Hindoo holiday I could not ascertain.

The Emperor iltutmish, who died A.D. 1235, is buried close behind one end of the arched alcove, in a beautiful tomb without its cupola. He built the tomb himself, and left orders that there should be no 'parda' (screen) between him and heaven; and no dome was thrown over the building in consequence. Other great men have done the same, and their tombs look as if their domes had fallen in; they think the way should be left clear for a start on the day of resurrection.[34] The church is stated to have been added to it by the Emperor Balban, and the Minar finished.[35] About the end of the seventeenth century, it was so shaken by an earthquake that the two upper stories fell down.

Our Government, when the country came into our possession, undertook to repair these two stories, and entrusted the work to Captain Smith, who built up one of stone, and the other of wood, and completed the repairs in three years. The one was struck by lightning eight or nine years after, and came down. If it was anything like the one that is left, the lightning did well to remove it.[36]

About five years ago, while the Emperor was on a visit to the tomb of Kutb-ud-din, a madman got into his private apartments. The servants were ordered to turn him out. On pa.s.sing the Minar he ran in, ascended to the top, stood a few minutes on the verge, laughing at those who were running after him, and made a spring that enabled him to reach the bottom, without touching the sides. An eye-witness told me that he kept his erect position till about half-way down, when he turned over, and continued to turn till he got to the bottom, when his fall made a report like a gun. He was of course dashed to pieces. About five months ago another fell over by accident, and was dashed to pieces against the sides. A new road has been here cut through the tomb of the Emperor Ala-ud-din, who murdered his father- in-law-the first Muhammadan conqueror of Southern India, and his remains have been scattered to the winds.[37]

A very pretty marble tomb, to the west of the alcoves, covers the remains of Imam Mashhadi, the religious guide of the Emperor Akbar; and a magnificent tomb of freestone covers those of his four foster- brothers. This was long occupied as a dwelling-house by the late Mr.

Blake, of the Bengal Civil Service, who was lately barbarously murdered at Jaipur. To make room for his dining-tables he removed the marble slab, which covered the remains of the dead, from the centre of the building, against the urgent remonstrance of the people, and threw it carelessly on one side against the wall, where it now lies.

The people appealed in vain, it is said, to Mr. Fraser, the Governor- General's representative, who was soon after a.s.sa.s.sinated; and a good many attribute the death of both to this outrage upon the remains of the dead foster-brother of Akbar. Those of Ala-ud-din were, no doubt, older and less sensitive. Tombs equally magnificent cover the remains of the other three foster-brothers of Akbar, but I did not enter them.[38]

Notes:

1. The Sultan, called by the author 'the Emperor Tughlak the First', as being the first of the Tughlak dynasty, was by birth a Karauniah Turk, named Ghazi Beg Tughlak. He a.s.sumed the style of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlak Shah when he seized the throne in A.D. 1320, and he reigned till A.D. 1325.

2. This gigantic fortress is close to the village of Badarpur, about four miles due east of the Kutb Minar, and ten or twelve miles south of the modern city. The building of it occupied more than three years, but the whole undertaking 'proved eminently futile, as his son removed his Court to the old city within forty days after his accession.' (Thomas, _Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Delhi_, 1871, p. 192.) The fort is described by Cunningham in _A.S.R._, vol. i, p.

212, whose description is copied in the guide-books. See also Fanshawe, _Delhi Past and Present_ (John Murray, 1902), p. 288 and plate. That work is cited as 'Fanshawe'.

3. Also called Adilabad. It is described in _A.S.R._, vol. i, p. 21; Carr Stephen, _The Archaeology and Monumental Remains of Delhi_, Ludhiana, 1876, p. 98; and Fanshawe, p. 291.

4. '_The Barber's House_. This lies to the right of the road from Tughlakabad to Badarpur, and is close to the ruined city. It is said to have been built for Tughlak Shah's barber about A.D. 1323. It is now a mere ruin.' (Harcourt, _The New Guide to Delhi_, Allahabad, 1866, p. 88.)

5. This fine tomb was built by Muhammad bin Tughlak (A.D. 1325-51).

It is described by Cunningham in _A.S.R._, vol. i, p. 213. See also _Ann. Rep. A. S., India_, 1904-5, p. 19, fig. 11; _H.F.A._, p. 397, fig. 234; and Fanshawe, p. 290, with plate. Thomas (_Chronicles_, p.

192) and Cunningham both say that the causeway, or viaduct, has twenty-seven, not only twenty-five, arches, as stated in the text.

The causeway is 600 feet in length. The sloping walls are characteristic of the period.

6. The blunder of calling the Sultans of Delhi by the name Pathan, due to the translators of Firishta's History, has been perpetuated by Thomas's well-known work, _The Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Delhi_, and in countless other books. The name is quite wrong. The only Pathan Sultans were those of the Lodi dynasty, which immediately preceded Babur, and those of the Sur dynasty, the rivals of Babur's son. 'He (_scil._ Ghiyas-ud-din Balban) was a _Turk_ of the Ilbari tribe, but compilers of Indian Histories and Gazetteers, and archaeological experts, turn him, like many Turks, Tajziks, Jats, and Sayyids, into _Pathans_, which is synonymous with Afghan, it being the vitiated Hindi equivalent of Pushtun, the name by which the people generally known as Afghans call themselves, in their own language. . . . It is quite time to give up Dow and Briggs'

Ferishta.' (Raverty, in _J.A.S.B._, vol. lxi (1892), Part I, p. 164, note.)

7. The murder of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlak by his son Fakhr-ud-din Juna, also called Ulugh Khan, occurred in the year A.H. 725, which began on 18th December, 1324 (o.s.). The testimony of the contemporary traveller Ibn Batuta establishes the fact that the fall of the pavilion was premeditated. (Thomas, _Chronicles_, pp. 187, 189.) The murderer, on his accession to the throne (1325), a.s.sumed the style of Muhammad bin Tughlak Shah.

8. Jalal-ud-din Firoz Shah Khilji was murdered by his son-in-law and nephew Ala-ud-din at Karra on the Ganges in July, A.D. 1296. The murderer reigned until A.D. 1315 under the t.i.tle of Ala-ud-din Muhammad Shah, Sikandar Sani.

9. As already noted, his proper style is Muhammad bin Tughlak Shah.

The word _bin_ means 'son of'. The Sultan is never called 'Muhammad the Third'.

10. A Muhammadan must, if he can, say his prayers with the prescribed forms five times in the twenty-four hours; and on Friday, which is their sabbath, he must, if he can, say three prayers in the church _masjid_. On other days he may say them where he pleases. Every prayer must begin with the first chapter of the Koran--this is the grace to every prayer. This said, the person may put in what other prayers of the Koran he pleases, and ask for that which he most wants, as long as it does not injure other Musalmans. This is the first chapter of the Koran: 'Praise be to G.o.d the Lord of all creatures--the most merciful--the King of the day of judgement. Thee do we worship, and of Thee do we beg a.s.sistance. Direct us in the right way--in the way of those to whom Thou hast been gracious; not of those against whom Thou art incensed; nor of those who go astray.'

[W. H. S.] The quotation is from Sale's version. The last clause may also be rendered, 'The way of those to whom Thou hast been gracious, against whom Thou art not incensed, and who have not erred,' as Sale points out in his note.

11. This mad tyrant, among other horrible deeds, flayed his nephew alive. He attempted to invade China through the Himalayas, and for three years issued a forced currency of bra.s.s and copper, which he vainly tried to make people take as equal in value to silver. Strange to say, he was allowed to reign for nearly twenty-seven years, and to die peacefully in his bed. The hunts of the 'innocent and unoffending people' were organized rather to gain the benefit of 'sending infidels to h.e.l.l' than for 'mere amus.e.m.e.nt'. Daulatabad was the name given by Muhammad bin Tughlak to the ancient fortress of Deogir (Deogiri, Deoghur), situated about ten miles from Aurangabad, in what is now the Hyderabad State.

12. In the original edition the Moghal leader's name is printed as 'Turmachurn', the Tarmasharin (with variations in spelling) of Muhammadan authors (see E. and D., iii. 42, 450, 507; v. 485; vi.

222). The name Turghi is given by Thomas, who says he invested Delhi in A.H. 703, corresponding to A.D. 1303-4; and refers to an article in _J.A.S.B._, vol. x.x.xv (1866), Part I, pp. 199-218, ent.i.tled 'Notes on the History and Topography of the Ancient Cities of Delhi', by O.

Campbell. (_Chronicles_, p. 175, note.) Campbell writes the leader's name as Turghai Khan. Apparently Tarmasharin was identical with Turghi or Turghai Khan, but I am not sure that he was. The Moghals made several raids during the reign of Ala-ud-din Muhammad Shah.

13. The tomb of Nizam-ud-din is further noticed in the next chapter of this work. It is situated in an enclosure which contains other notable tombs. The following extract from the author's _Ramaseeana_ (p. 121) gives additional particulars concerning this saint of questionable sanct.i.ty: '_Nizam-ud-din Aulia_.--A saint of the Sunni sect of Muhammadans, said to have been a Thug of great note at some period of his life, and his tomb near Delhi is to this day visited as a place of pilgrimage by Thugs, who make votive offerings to it. He is said to have been of the Barsot cla.s.s, born in the month of Safar [633], Hijri, March A.D. 1236; died Rabi-ul-awwal, 725, October A.D.

1325. [The months as stated do not correspond.--_Ed_.] His tomb is visited by Muhammadan pilgrims from all parts as a place of great sanct.i.ty from containing the remains of so holy a man; but the Thugs, both Hindoo and Muhammadan, visit it as containing the remains of the most celebrated Thug of his day. He was of the Sunni sect, and those of the Shia sect find no difficulty in believing that he was a Thug; but those of his own sect will never credit it. There are perhaps no sufficient grounds to p.r.o.nounce him one of the fraternity; but there are some to suspect that he was so at some period of his life. The Thugs say he gave it up early in life, but kept others employed in it till late, and derived an income from it; and the 'dast-ul-ghaib', or supernatural purse, with which he was supposed to be endowed, gives a colour to this. His lavish expenditure, so much beyond his ostensible means, gave rise to the belief that he was supplied from above with money.'

The 'old man of the mountains' with whom the author compares Nizam- ud-din (or at least the original 'old man of the mountains', Shaikh- ul Jabal), was Hasan-ibn-Sabbah (or, us-Sabbah), who founded the sect of so-called a.s.sa.s.sins in the mountains on the sh.o.r.es of the Caspian, and flourished from about A.D. 1089 to 1124. Hulaku the Mongol broke the power of the sect in A.D. 1256 (Thatcher, in _Encycl. Brit._, 11th ed., 1910, s. v. 'a.s.sa.s.sin').

14. Shams-ud-din iltutmish, who had been a slave, reigned from A.D.

1210 to 1235. His Turkish name is variously written as Yulteemush, Altamsh, Alitmish, &c. The form iltutmish is correct (_Z.D.M.G._, 1907, p. 192). His tomb is discussed _post_.

15. This is not quite accurate. A similar _minar_, or mosque tower, built in the middle of the thirteenth century, formerly existed at Koil in the Aligarh district (_A.S.R._, i. 191), and two mosques at Bayana in the Bharatpur State, have each only one _minar_, placed outside the courtyard (ibid., vol. iv, p. ix). Chitor in Rajputana possesses two n.o.ble Hindoo towers, one about 80 feet high, erected in connexion with Jain shrines, and the other, about 120 feet high, erected by k.u.mbha Rana as a tower or pillar of victory. (Fergusson, _Hist. of Indian and Eastern Architecture_, ed. 1910, vol. ii, pp.

57-61.)

16. The short life of James Prinsep extended only from August 20, 1799, to April 22, 1840, and practically terminated in 1838, when his brain began to fail from the undue strain caused by incessant and varied activity. His memorable discoveries in archaeology and numismatics are recorded in the seven volumes of the _J.A.S.B._ for the years 1832-8. His contributions to those volumes were edited by B. Thomas, and republished in 1868 under the t.i.tle of _Essays on Indian Antiquities_. Sir Alexander Cunningham, who was one of Prinsep's fellow workers, gives interesting details of the process by which the discoveries were made, in the Introduction to the first volume of the Reports of the Archaeological Survey. No adequate account of James Prinsep's remarkable career has been published. He was singularly modest and una.s.suming. A good summary of his life is given in Higginbotham's _Men whom India has Known_, 2nd ed., Madras, 1874. See also the editor's paper, 'James Prinsep', in East and West, Bombay, July, 1906.

17. The monolith pillars alluded to in the text are chiefly those of the great Emperor Piyadasi, Beloved of the G.o.ds, also known by the name of Asoka. So far from being memorials of a time when 'the mechanical arts were in a rude state', the Asoka columns exhibit the arts of the stone-cutter and sculptor in perfection. They were erected about 242 to 230 B.C., and the inscriptions on them contain a code of moral and religions precepts. They do not commemorate conquests, although the Asoka pillar at Allahabad has been utilized by later sovereigns for the recording of magniloquent inscriptions in praise of their grandeur. The best-known of the Asoka pillars are the two at Delhi, and the one at Allahabad. Many scholars have devoted themselves to the study of the inscriptions of Asoka, which may be said to form the foundation of authentic Indian history. The reader interested in the subject should consult Senart, _Les Inscriptions de Piyadasi_, t. I and II, Paris, 1881, 1886; V. A. Smith, _Asoka, the Buddhist Emperor of India_, 2nd ed.. Oxford, 1909; and 'The Monolithic Pillars or Columns of Asoka' (_Z.D.M.G._, 1911, pp. 221- 10). See also _E.H.I._, 3rd ed. (Oxford, 1914), chap. 6, 7, with Bibliography. Certain of the Gupta emperors in the fifth century A.C.

also erected monolith pillars. Some of the pillars of the Gupta period commemorate victories; others are merely religious monuments.

18. Fergusson thought the Kutb Minar superior to Giotto's campanile at Florence in 'poetry of design and exquisite finish of detail'. He also held it to excel its taller Egyptian rival, the minaret of the mosque of Hasan at Cairo, in its n.o.bler appearance, as well as in design and finish. To sum up, he held the Delhi monument to surpa.s.s any building of its cla.s.s in the whole world. (_Hist. of Indian and Eastern Architecture_, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 206.)

19. Fergusson (ibid.) was mistaken in supposing that the Kutb Minar was intended for anything else than a _mazina_, or tower from which the call to prayers should be proclaimed. It is that and nothing else. Several examples of early mosques with only one _minar_ each are known, at Koil and Bayana, in India, as well as at Ghazni and Cairo. The unfinished _minar_ of Alauddin near the Kutb Minar was intended for a distinct building, namely, his addition to the original Kutb mosque. There was no 'other _minar_' connected with the Kutb Minar.(Cunningham, _A.S.R._ iv (1874), p. ix.)

The current name of the Kutb Minar refers to the saint Khwaja Kutb- ud-din of ush, who lies near the tower, and not to Sultan Kutb-ud-din Aibak or ibak. The _minar_ was erected, about A.D. 1232, by Sultan Shams-ud-din iltutmish (V. A. Smith, 'Who Built the Kutb Minar?'

_East and West_, Bombay, Dec. 1907, pp. 1200-5; B. N. Munshi, _The Kutb Minar, Delhi_, Bombay, 1911).

All the important monuments at or near Delhi are now carefully conserved, Lord Curzon having organized effective arrangements for the purpose.

20. The original edition gives a coloured plate of the Kutb Minar.