Page:The Architecture of Ancient Delhi Especially the Buildings Around the Kutb Minar 1872 by Henry Hardy Cole.djvu/131

 The Ktttb Minar. 87 Photograph XIV. FIRST GALLERY OF THE MINAR. HE view was taken from the root' of Ala-ucl-din's gateway (see on plan), in order to obtain the details of the bracketing which supports the gallery above the first story, about ninety-seven feet above the ground. The mode of constructing the cornice is characteristic and consists of a series of overlapping layers of highly carved stone. Without some such feature it would have been incumbent on the builder to continue the angle fluting in the second story, but with it he added greatly to the beauty and grandeur of the Minar, and was able to introduce a variety in the upper flutin°-s. With so ornamental a material as the Arabic alphabet, it would have been difficult to fail to make the bands of inscriptions an attractive adornment ; but the richness of the subordinate ornamentation contributes in no small measure to the extreme beauty of the column. Although the decoration is lavishly applied in these bands the intervals of plain wall qualify it and prevent the eye from feeling a sensation of surfeit. The upper inscription imme- diately below the cornice of the first story, contains verses from the Koran. The next line consists of the ninety-nine names of God Almighty and the third band sings the praises of Moiz-ud-din Abulmozuffur, Muhammad Bin Sam. After the first story, as is here apparent, the column tapers rather suddenly, and to this fact is due the diminished impression of height which one feels in looking at it from any distance. The interior of the Minar is occupied by a spiral staircase of 379 steps, which leads to the four galleries and to the top. The stone walls are bare and unornamented — here and there being inscribed the names of various native visitors. The assumption that Kutb-ud-din commenced the building of the tower under instructions from his imperial master Muhammad Ghori is based on tolerably accurate authority and evidence ; inscriptions on the tower bring to notice the fact of Shams-ud-din having built a considerable portion of the monument. Some historical events connected with the lives of the two former personages have been mentioned elsewhere in