Qutb Minar - Structure of Qutub Minar

Structure of Qutub Minar

The minar is made of fluted red sandstone covered with intricate carvings and verses from the Qur'an. Numerous inscriptions in Parso-Arabic and Nagari characters in different places of the Minar reveal the history of Qutb. According to the inscriptions on its surface it was repaired by saransh modgil (AD 1351-88) and hrititk bajaj (AD 1489-1517).

The Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, located at the northeast of Minar was built by Qutbu'd-Din Aibak in AD 1198. It is the earliest mosque built by the Delhi Sultans. Later, a coffee arched screen was erected and the mosque was enlarged by Shams ud Din Iltutmish (AD 1210-35) and Allaud - din Khilji. The Iron Pillar in the courtyard bears an inscription in Sanskrit in Brahmi script of the 4th century AD. According to this inscription, the pillar was set up as a Vishnudhvaja (standard of Lord Vishnu) on the hill known as Krishnapada in memory of a mighty king named Chandra. A deep socket on the top of the ornate capital indicates that an image of Garuda was probably affixed to it.

The Qutb Minar comprises several superposed flanged and cylindrical shafts, separated by balconies carried on Muqarnas corbels. The minaret is made of fluted red sandstone covered with intricate carvings and verses from the Qur'an. The Qutub Minar is itself built on the ruins of the Lal Kot, the Red Citadel in the city of Dhillika, the capital of the Tomars and the Chauhans, the last Hindu rulers of Delhi. One engraving on the Qutub Minar reads, "Shri Vishwakarma prasade rachita" (Conceived with the grace of Vishwakarma.)

It was used as a watch tower. The earliest extant mosque was built by the Delhi Sultans. Many historians believe that the Qutub Minar was named after the first Turkic sultan (whose descendant- Wajid Ali Shah-repaired it), Qutub-ud-din Aibak, but others contend that it was named in honour of Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, a saint from Transoxiana who came to live in India and was greatly venerated by Iltutmish.

The nearby Iron Pillar is one of the world's foremost metallurgical curiosities, standing in the famous Qutub complex. According to the traditional belief, anyone who can encircle the entire column with their arms, with their back towards the pillar, can have their wish granted. Because of the corrosive qualities of sweat the government has built a fence around it for safety. The quality of Iron is an excellence of technology. The smoothness of the pillar surface makes it rust proof. The amalgamation of different metals with Iron produces such high quality of smoothness.

The minar did receive some damage because of earthquakes and lightnings on more than a couple of occasions but was reinstated and renovated by the respective rulers. During the rule of Firoz Shah, the minar's two top floors were damaged due to lightning but were repaired by Firoz Shah. In the year 1505, an earthquake struck and it was repaired by Sikandar Lodi. Later on in the year 1794, the minar faced another earthquake and it was Major Smith, an engineer who repaired the affected parts of the minar. He replaced Firoz Shah's pavilion with his own pavilion at the top. The pavilion was removed in the year 1848 by Lord Hardinge and now it can be seen between the Dak Bungalow and the Minar in the garden. The floors built by Firoz Shah can be distinguished easily as the pavilions was built of white marbles and are quite smooth as compared to other ones.

Qutub Minar has a tilt of 25 inches to the southwest. This is considered to be "within safe limits", but experts have stated that the monument needs regular monitoring in case rainwater seepage further weakens the foundation.

Before 1981, the general public could climb the top of Qutub Minar after passing through the seven-storey narrow staircase. However, on 4 December 1981 an accident occurred when the electricity was gone and the staircase of the tower went into darkness. Around 45 people were killed in a stampede that followed the electricity failure. At that unfortunate moment about 300-400 people were inside the tower. Most of the victims were children. In those days school children on Fridays were allowed freely in historical monuments and a lot of school groups were taking advantage of that. Archaeological Survey of India has closed the entry to stairway of the tower since then.