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Iltutmish and later repaired by Firoz Shah not suffered rust at all in spite of its exposure to
Tughlaq and Sikandar Lodi. The Qutb Minar was the elements for 1,600 years.
constructed from material collected from Hindu
buildings and temples. For its decoration the
Hindu craftsmen were used and they applied the
same style of inlaying which they had been using
in building temples. The floral designs, bells and
chains were made to decorate the minar from
exiting material remains of temples.
Alai Minar Alauddin
Tughlaqabad
Tughlaq Dynasty constructed Tughlaqabad with
magnificent stone ramparts. The important
building is the tomb of Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din,
which is a cubic structure of red sandstone
crowned with a dome of white marble, becoming
Qutub Minar
a model of later brilliant Mughal mausoleums in
Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque spite of its small scale. Tughlaqs also constructed
This was first mosque built in Delhi after the the Firozabad, of which only the ruins of the fort
Islamic conquest of India and the oldest surviving of Firoz Shah Kotla and a part of the Friday
example of Ghurids architecture in Indian sub- Mosque remain.
continent. Built mainly on the rubbles of the 27
Hindu and Jain temples
There are a number of legends related to the Qutab
Alauddin Khilji’s Tomb and Madarsa Minar. Some believe that the monument was actually
This stands as one of the early examples of built by Prithviraj Chauhan so that his daughter could
amateur Islamic architecture in India. Alai Minar see the sacred river Yamuna during her daily prayers.
Alauddin wanted to build a minar that should be However, this occurs to be a baseless since Qutab
double of height of the Qutub Minar. But, this Minar’s entire architecture is Islamic in origin. It is the
dream could never become true as the Sultan highest birch minaret in the World. It is a world
heritage site.
died even when the first storey was not com-
pleted. In the oldest courtyard, stands an iron Thus, under the Delhi Sultans, an intermingling
pillar 7.5 m long, which is thought to have been of the Turkish and the local Indian art and
produced by Chandragupta-II, in the 4th century. architecture styles gave rise to a unique form of
It was a Stambha dedicated to a Vishnu temple architecture and building activity.
according to its inscription and it seems to have
With the advent of the Mughal rule there was an
been brought here before the Islamic conquest.
outburst of many-sided cultural activity. In fact,
This wrought iron pillar, with a Gupta-style
the Mughal period can be called the second
capital on the top, is so highly refined that it has
Social Science-7 51
