ASSGINMENT # 04

H I S T O RY O F A R C H I T E C T U R E - 0 3

29/12/2020

SUBMITTED BY: AHTASHAM HASHIM

ROLL NO: B-24514
SUBMITTED TO: AR-MAHAM BATOOL
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
ASSGINMENT NO 4 :
Write a one page write up on all the 8 monuments in the Qutb Minar Complex EACH. Explain them with
reference to the architectural typology, building materials, architectural features, ornamentation and planning .

• HISTORY OF QUTAB MINAR .

• Delhi’s Qutub Minar is a five-storied structure constructed over four centuries by a number of rulers. It was originally commissioned by Qutb-ud-din Aibak,
who was the founder of the Delhi Sultanate, around 1192 as a victory tower. The minaret is named after him; although he wasn’t able to build it beyond the
first story. His successor Shams-ud-din Iltutmish added three more floors to the structure in 1220. Its topmost story suffered damages in 1369 due to
lightning. It was reconstructed by Firoz Shah Tughlaq, who added the fifth and final story to the tower while the entrance to Qutub Minar was built by Sher
Shah Suri.
• Around 300 years later, in 1803, the tower again suffered severe damages in an earthquake. Major Robert Smith, a member of the British Indian Army,
mended the structure in 1828. He went ahead and installed a pillared cupola to sit atop the fifth story, thus lending the tower its sixth story. But this extra
story was removed in 1848 under he orders of Henry Hardinge, the then Governor-General of India, and reinstalled next to the minaret. Entry to the
tower has been restricted since 1981 after an accident, which left 47 people inside it dead.

• Qutub Minar Height & Architecture

The magnificent Qutub Minar has a height of 73 meters. It has a base diameter of 14.3 meters which narrows down to 2.7 meters at the top. The structure
also includes a spiral staircase of 379 steps. There are many other historical edifices around the minaret which, together with the main tower, form the
Qutub Minar Complex.
It is widely believed that the tower, which displays early Afghan architectural style, was built taking inspiration from the Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan.
Each of the five distinct stories of the minaret is adorned with a projecting balcony supported by intricately designed brackets. While the first three
stories are built in pale red sandstone, the fourth one is purely made of marble, and the fifth one is a mix of marble and sandstone. The architectural styles
from the base to the top also differ, thanks to the many rulers who constructed it part by part.
There are bands of inscriptions on different sections of Qutub Minar that narrate its history. Carved verses adorn the inside of the tower.
 • 8 MONUMENTS OF QUTAB MINAR .

o Iron pillar
o Alai Darwaza
o Alai Minar of Khalji
o Tomb of Imam Zamin
o Qutb Minar
o Quwat-ul-Islam Mosque
oTomb of Iltutmish
oAla-ud-din Khilji's tomb and madrasa

Iron Pillar:
The iron pillar is one of the world's foremost metallurgical curiosities. The pillar, 7.21-metre
high and weighing more than six tons, was originally erected by Chandragupta II Vikramaditya
(375–414 AD) in front of a Vishnu Temple complex at Udayagiri around 402 AD, and later shifted
by Anangpal in the 10th century CE from Udaygiri to its present location. Anangpal built a Vishnu
Temple here and wanted this pillar to be a part of that temple. The estimated weight of the deco-
rative bell of the pillar is 646 kg while the main body weighs 5,865 kg, thus making the entire pillar
weigh 6,511 kg. The pillar bears an inscription in Sanskrit in Brahmi script dating 4th century AD
, which indicates that the pillar was set up as a Vishnudhvaja, standard of god, on the hill known as
Vishnupada in memory of a mighty king named Chandra, believed to Chandragupta II. A deep
socket on the top of this ornate capital suggests that probably an image of Garuda was fixed into
it, as common in such flagpoles.
Alai Darwaza:

The Alai Darwaza is a main gateway from southern side of the Quwat-ul-Islam Mosque.
It was built by the second Khalji Sultan of Delhi, Ala-ud-din Khalji in 1311 AD, who also added
a court to the pillared to the eastern side. The domed gateway is decorated with red sandstone
and inlaid white marble decorations, inscriptions in Naskh script, latticed stone screens and
showcases the remarkable craftsmanship of the Turkish artisans who worked on it. This is the
first building in India to employ Islamic architecture principles in its construction and
ornamentation.
The Slave dynasty did not employ true Islamic architecture styles and used false domes and
false arches. This makes the Alai Darwaza, the earliest example of first true arches and true domes in India. It is considered to be one of the most
important buildings built in the Delhi sultanate period. With its pointed arches and spearhead of fringes, identified as lotus buds, it adds grace to
the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque to which it served as an entrance.
Alai Minar of Khalji:

Alauddin Khalji started building the Alai Minar, after he had doubled the size of
Quwwat ul-Islam mosque built before 1311AD. He conceived this tower to be
two times higher than Qutb Minar in proportion with the enlarged mosque.
The construction was however abandoned, just after the completion of the
24.5-metre- high (80 ft.) first-story core; soon after the death of Alauddin in
1316, and never taken up by his successors of Khalji dynasty. The first storey
of the Alai Minar, a giant rubble masonry core, still stands today, which was
evidently intended to be covered with dressed stone later on. Noted Sufi poet
and saint of his times, Amir Khusro in his work, Tarikh-i-Alai, mentions
Ala-ud-din's intentions to extend the mosque and also constructing another
minar.
Tomb of Imam Zamin:
Tomb of Imam Zamin is a 16th-century tomb located in the Qutb Minar complex,
Mehrauli, Delhi in India. It houses the tomb of Mohammad Ali an Islamic cleric
who migrated from Turkestan to India during the reign of Sikandar Lodi. The tomb
was built by Ali himself during the reign of Mughal emperor Humayun. This tomb
has no relation with the other monuments of the complex.
Imam Zamin was a direct descendant of Muhammad and his original name was
Muhammad Ali. Zamin was thus a Sayyid and belonged to the Chishti sect of
Sufism. It is believed that he migrated from Turkestan to Delhi during the reign
of Sultan Sikandar Lodi, and subsequently became the imam of the Quwwat-ul-
Islam mosque, at the Qutb Minar complex.

The tomb is built in the Lodhi architectural style. The mausoleum is square in shape
and measures 7.3 meters (24 ft.) in both length and breadth. The roof is supported by twelve pillars and is surmounted by a sandstone dome with jails on all
the sides, except the west and south. The dome rises from an octagonal drum and is decorated with a marble panel above the chhajja along with a double row
of crenelles. Marble is extensively used for the interior ornamentation and in the construction of the cenotaph. The western side of the mausoleum contains a
marble-wrought mihrab. The entrance, located at the southern side, is also made of marble.
Qutub Minar:
The Qutb Minar is inspired by the Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan, it is an important example of early
Afghan architecture, which later evolved into Indo-Islamic Architecture. The Qutb Minar is 72.5 meters
(239 ft) high, making it the tallest minaret in the world built of bricks. It has five distinct stories, each
marked by a projecting balcony carried on muqarnas corbel and tapers from a diameter 14.3 meters at
the base to 2.7 meters at the top, which is 379 steps away. Built as a Victory Tower, to celebrate the
victory of Muhammad Ghori over the Rajput king, Prithviraj Chauhan, in 1192 AD, by his then viceroy,
Qutb-ud-din Aibak, later the first Sultan of Mamluk dynasty. Its construction also marked the beginning
of Muslim rule in India
. It was built using red sandstone and marble. Inscriptions record that 27 Hindu and Jain temples were torn down and used for its creation. Even today the Qutb
remains one of the most important "Towers of Victory" in the Islamic world. Aibak however, could only build the first storey, for this reason the lower storey
is replete with eulogies to Muhammad Ghori. The next three floors were added by his son-in-law and successor, Iltutmish. The minar was first struck by
lightning in 1368 AD, which knocked off its top storey, after that it was replaced by the existing two floors by Firoz Shah Tughlaq, a later Sultan of Delhi from
1351 to 1388, and faced with white marble and sandstone enhancing the distinctive variegated look of the minar, as seen in lower three stories.

Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque:

Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque was commissioned by Qutb-ud-din Aibak, founder of the Mamluk or Slave dynasty and built using the ruins of 27 Hindu and Jain
temples. It was built over the site of a large temple located in the center of a citadel.
It was the first mosque built in Delhi after the Islamic conquest of India
and the oldest surviving example of Ghurids architecture in Indian
subcontinent. The construction of this Jami Masjid, started in the year
1193 AD, when Aibak was the commander of Muhammad Ghori's garrison
that occupied Delhi. To leave the imprint of his religion to the new
territory, Aibak decided to erect a mosque epitomizing the might of Islam
and chose his site, the heart of the captured Rajput citadel of Qila Rai
Pithora. The Qutub Minar was built simultaneously with the mosque but
appears to be a stand-alone structure, built as the 'Minar of Jami Masjid',
for the muezzin to perform adhan, call for prayer, and also as a qutub, an
Axis or Pole of Islam. It is reminiscent in style and design of the Adhai-
din-ka Jhonpra or Ajmer mosque at Ajmer, Rajasthan, also built by Aibak
during the same time, also constructed by demolishing earlier temples
and a Sanskrit school, at the site.
Tomb of Iltutmish:
The tomb of the Delhi Sultanate ruler, Iltutmish, a second Sultan of
Delhi built in 1235 CE, is also part of the Qutb Minar Complex in Mehrauli,
New Delhi. The central chamber is a 9 m2. and has squinches, suggesting the
existence of a dome, which has since collapsed. The main cenotaph, in white
marble, is placed on a raised platform in the centre of the chamber. The facade
is known for its ornate carving, both at the entrance and the interior walls.
The interior west wall has a prayer niche decorated with marble, and a rich
amalgamation of Hindu motifs into Islamic architecture, such as bell-and-
chain, tassel, lotus, diamond emblems. In 1914, during excavations by
Archaeological Survey of India's Gordon Sanderson, the grave chamber was
discovered. From the north of the tomb 20 steps lead down to the actual burial
vault.

Ala-ud-din Khilji's tomb and madrasa:

At the back of the complex, southwest of the mosque, stands an L-shaped construction, consisting of Alauddin Khilji's tomb dating ca 1316 AD,
and a madrasa, an Islamic seminary built by him. Khalji was the second Sultan of Delhi from Khalji dynasty, who ruled from 1296 to 1316 AD. The central
room of the building, which has his tomb, has now lost its dome, though many rooms of the seminary or college are intact, and since been restored.
There were two small chambers connected to the tomb by passages on either side. Fergusson in his book suggested the existence, to the west of the tomb,
of seven rooms, two of which had domes and windows. The remains of the tomb building suggest that there was an open courtyard on the south and west
sides of the tomb building, and that one room in the north served as an entrance.
It was the first example in India, of a tomb standing
alongside a madrasa. Nearby stands the Alai Minar,
an ambitious tower, he started constructing to rival
the Qutb Minar, though he died when only its first
storey was built and its construction abandoned
thereafter. It now stands, north of the mosque.

The tomb is in a very dilapidated condition. It is

believed that Ala-ud-din's body was brought to the
complex from Siri and buried in front of the mosque,
which formed part of the madrasa adjoining the
tomb. Firoz Shah Tughluq, who undertook repairs of
the tomb complex, mentioned a mosque within the
madrasa.
THANK YOU !