Page:The Seven Cities of Delhi.djvu/125

 flutings ; the second and third stories are 51 and 41 feet in height respectively, the flutlngs in the one being semicircular, in the other angular ; while the last two stories are 25 and 22 feet high, and have no flutings at all. Round the tower are carved mouldings, containing the names and praises of the builder, Kutb-ud-din, and of his master, Mahomed of Ghor, with texts of the Koran and the ninety-nine names of Allah, all written in the Kufic character.

The name may be derived from that of the founder, or the lofty tower may have been considered the "pole of the earth," or, again, it may have been called after the saint of that name, who lived and was buried near by. Such a magnificent monument has, of course, been claimed by the Hindus, as the work of one of their rajas. His daughter, it is said, was so pious, that each morning, before taking her food, she wished to go to the river to perform her ablutions, and, after the custom of Hindu ladies, to moisten with water her lucky neck-ornament, composed of nine different stones. But the journey became very tedious, and at last the raja persuaded her to be content with a sight of the river, and therefore built this tower to enable her to do so. This tradition has been referred to in the previous chapter, as a possible indication