Page:The Seven Cities of Delhi.djvu/130

 The octagon inside becomes a sixteen-sided figure in the next course, and brackets at the corners of this support the circle. This arrangement is rather a pleasing one. Other points of interest here are a western prayer-niche and the surrounding drip-stone, which is carved in the shape of prayer-carpets, arranged side by side — a compliment, perhaps, to the priest who is buried within.

The Imam Zamin was Mahomed Ali Mashadi, vulgarly called Husain "Pai Minar," or Husain who lived at the foot of the minar. He came here from Tons, in Persia, resided in Delhi for many years, and died in a.d. 1357.

. — The meaning of this name is "The Might of Islam," fitting name for a mosque which was built by conquerors. It, quite certainly, occupies the same platform on which stood a Hindu temple, one of the twenty- seven which were despoiled by the Mahomedans of their pillars, to form the colonnades, and the mosque at the western end of the court; it is possible that the mosque was part of the original temple, but, otherwise, only the outer walls and the eastern steps were left in position. Carved bands run all around the platform, and the Iron Pillar rests on the original floor, overlaid by the Mahomedans with two thicknesses of stone in the