Page:The Architecture of Ancient Delhi Especially the Buildings Around the Kutb Minar 1872 by Henry Hardy Cole.djvu/127

 The Kutb Minar. 85 Photograph XIII. BASE OF THE MINAR FROM THE EAST. Note. — The white marks in the centre of the lower part of the base show a scale of feet. ^S^.HIS view was taken from the east of the Minar, and includes the two first bands of inscription, the lower one being cut into the surface of the stone, whilst the upper one is raised about two inches above it. The former circum- stance is cited as a reason hi favour of the Hindu origin of the column, it being held that the Muhammadans found the pillar built up to a certain height, and were obliged to mscribe the first band of inscription and arabesque. The character of the ornament in the lower band closely resembles the ornament on the middle gateway of the Masjid built by Kutb-ud-din. The foliation in both is rounded; vide the casts of carvings of the lower band of the Minar and of a portion of the ornamental inscription from Kutb-ud-din's Gateway in the Kensington Museum. The ornament used by Shams-ud-din in continuing the budding is of an incised character, the outer surface remaining smooth and uncarved, whde that prepared by order of Kutb-ud-din was carved in more direct imitation of natural forms. It would appear that Shams-ud-din altered the mode of decoration at the period of continuing the budding and preferred the raised bands, which are certainly more effective and produce a more marked contrast of light and shade. The lower part of the first band is ten feet from the plinth and is four feet in width ; the second band, above, is five feet wide and twenty feet from the top to the plinth. The bell feature occurs in the upper and lower borders of the latter, and the ornamental bands next to these borders are composed of a series of contiguous rosettes. Both features are often to be seen in Hindu temples, so that the Hindu masons employed by the Pathans were permitted to introduce some of their native designs. That the masons were Hindu may be gathered from the horizontal mode of construction in all the Kutb buildings. The mutilation of the letters in the lower band may have been caused by the crushing weight of the super-structure, evidence of which is to be seen in all parts of