Qutab Minar- Myths and Facts

As per Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Qutab Ud-din-Aibak laid the foundation of Qutab Minar in 1199 AD and raised the first story to which were added three more stories by his successor and son in law Shamsu Ud-Din-Iltatmish (1211-1236 AD).  Firoz Shah Tuglak constructed the fifth and last storey. Authors differ on this and some claim that the foundation was laid in 1193AD while others claim that it was laid in 1198AD or even in 1200AD. Restoration work was done in 12^th century, 14^th century and 19^th century. It is a six storey, 72.5 meter tall tower made of red and buff sand stone and marble. The first three stories are made of red and buff sandstone while the remaining three are made of red sands stone and marble. Diameter at the base is 14.3 meters and 2.7 meters at the top. It is leaning 5 degrees to the north and on 21 Jun its shadow does not go out of its round base. There are 379 stairs inside the tower to reach the top with 27 windows.

The land on which Qutab Minar is situated belonged to the Tomar Rajputs and Chauhans and it was given to Prithviraj Chauhan by his grandfather Arkpal Tomar. Mohammad-bin-sau (Mohammad Ghori) attacked Prithviraj in 1191 AD and was defeated by him and returned back to his capital Lahore. He attacked Prithviraj Chauhan again in 1192 AD and defeated him in the battle near Panipat and thus acquired the lad on which Qutab Minar is situated. His capital was Lahore and he ruled till 1206 AD. Qutab Ud-din-Aibak was one of the commanders of Mohd Ghori and therefore could not have started the qutab minar in his name as long as Ghori was alive. He was appointed as Ghori’s deputy in 1206 .He ascended the throne in 1206AD after Ghori’s death and till 1208 he was deeply involved in the inner struggle to consolidate his rule over the empire left by Ghori. He died in 1210 while playing polo in Lahore and it is believed that he never came to Delhi. Therefore, it is prudent to assume that if he constructed the qutab minar then he would have done so after 1208 to 1210 AD only and in Lahore but not in Delhi which he never visited. It is also not possible for the minar to be erected in two ears only.

An inscription in Persian at the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque’s inner eastern gateway in the complex states the construction was done by salvaging the material from the demolition of 27of Delhi’s Hindu and Jain temples.    Pillars from these temples were used in the mosque with their iconography intact. It is also said the there were 27 Hindu and Jain temples in the same complex of the minar which were demolished and the remains of some of them can still be seen in the complex. The Minar has 27 windows from which you can see the ground as well as sky and the base has 27 conical edges and 27 circular areas. The windows have large openings inside but taper to small openings as you go out. The area also contains a iron pillar called the Garuda flag, which does not rust and was established by Chandragupta Vikramditya in 380-414AD much before Ghori even came to India. The saying goes hat anyone who can circumvent the pillar with both of his hands while standing with his back to the pillar will be a Chakravarti Samrat. It is not correct to assume that only this pillar was established and nothing else. Therefore, it stands to reason that there must be other structures surrounding or in the same complex and thus the storey that there were 27 temples in the complex which were demolished appears to be true and the inscription also refers to the same 27 temples which were in the same complex.

The area is called Mehrauli now and was said to be established by one of the navratna’s in the court of Chandra Gupta Vikramaditya called Varah Mihir, who was a great astronomer. In his honor the area was named as Mihirvali and was later distorted to read as Mehrauli. It is also ironical that there are 27 constellations in our astronomy and there were 27 temples in the same complx and 27 windows from which one can look up in the sky and study it along with 27 conical edges and 27 circular ones. This 27 is repeating again and again in the minar's structure and it cannot be a coincidence but points to only direction that the whole complex including the minar was an astronomical observatory during the period of Chandragupta Vikrmaditya, which was later destroyed by the invader and claimed as their own.