Page:The Architecture of Ancient Delhi Especially the Buildings Around the Kutb Minar 1872 by Henry Hardy Cole.djvu/121

 The Kutb Minor. 79 Photograph XII. VIEW OF THE KUTB MINAR FROM THE WEST.' Note. — The white clots on the centre of the base of the Tower indicate a scale of five feet. HAVE previously alluded to the architecture of the Pathans as characterised l)y vigour, massiveness and grandeur ; and in looking at the Kutb Miliar one cannot resist the reflection that whilst these tough warriors were endowed with the lighting qualities of giants, they could also build like them and were moreover far from unskilful in the application and use of graceful and beautiful forms. The contrast thus instituted between the qualities of vigour and those of a more delicate nature is at once striking and agreeable. Mr. Fergusson, in writing about the Kutb Minar, bestows on it a large measure of praise. He writes : " The minaret of the Mosque of Hassan at Cairo is known to be loftier than this pillar ; but as the Minar is an independent building it has a far nobler appearance, and, both in design and finish, far surpasses its Egyptian rival, as indeed it does any building of its class." The material used throughout the whole of the exterior surface is the red sandstone, with the following exceptions: In the fourth and fifth stories, there are white marble bands. In the fourth compartment a facing of marble has a belt of dark stone at the bottom ; in the fifth there are two belts of white marble and some ornamental work close under the cornice of the uppermost terrace. The construction of the pillar is somewhat curious. At the base the plan is alternately angular and fluted ; in the second compartment the flutes are all circular, and in the third they are again all angular ; the intermediate galleries being supported by honeycombed bracketing, which is by no means the least important feature of successful ornament in the pillar. The history and different periods of erecting the pillar are recorded in the various inscriptioi bands of Arabic inscriptions which occur in the compartments. Some bands, however, First Stor 1 The photograph was taken in two plates, the camera being raised upon its transverse axis to cover the upper part of the pillar. In order to avoid the distortion which is apparent iu looking at the photograph from any but the one right position, the eye should be thirteen inches from the paper and opposite to the fourth white dot above the plinth ; the etfect is then in true perspective.