Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/241

 On the night of the 31st of August, 1803, the minār was shattered from the foundation by an earthquake; the injury occasioned by it has been lately repaired by Colonel Edward Smith, of the engineers, who conducted the work with great judgment, having to remove and refix some of the large stones at the base of the tower. His judgment and taste failed when repairing the top of the edifice; even from a distance the sort of pavilion which he erected on the top appears heavy, and unfitted to the proportions of the rest of the minār, which is fine by degrees, and beautifully less. Not content with this, he placed an umbrella of Chinese form on the top of the pavilion; it was not destined to remain,—the lightning struck it off, as if indignant at the profanation. The minār is covered with Arabic inscriptions and the most elaborate workmanship.

The colonnades around the Kutab are very remarkable; some of them are of the same style of architecture as the old Hindū ruin at Kanauj, of which I have given a sketch; one large long stone placed upright upon another of the same description, without any mortar. Some of the colonnades are almost perfectly plain, others richly sculptured; they appear to be very ancient.

KUTAB KÍ LĀT.

West of the Kutab, about fifty yards, and in the middle of the colonnaded court in front of the exquisite arch I mentioned before, stands an iron column about twenty feet high, called "Kutab kí Lāt," or "Kutab's Staff." It is covered with inscriptions, some of which are said to be in an unknown character, and are nearly effaced by time. The more recent are in Persian and Hindī characters. It is said that this iron column was raised by the grandfather of Raja Pittourah, on the representation of the Brahmans, who assured him that the sceptre would never depart from his posterity as long as this pillar stood. Raja Pittourah, however, was killed in the eighth battle fought near Delhi by Kutab-u-dīn-Abek, who, to show his contempt for the prophecy of the Brahmans, and to evince its