Essay on Qutub Minar in English| Qutub Minar Essay
Essay on Qutub Minar in English| Qutub Minar Essay
Essay on Qutub Minar in English| Qutub Minar Essay: In the Mehrauli area of New Delhi, stands a minaret in the Qutub Complex, named a Qutub Minar, or Quran Minar or Qutb Minar. It is included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Site in the year 1993.
History
A deputy of Muhammad of Ghor, Qutub – ud – din – Aibek, started construction of the Qutb Minar in the year of 1199. The son-in-law and successor of Qutub – ud- din – Aibek, Shamsuddin Iltutmish completed further three storeys of the minaret. In 1369, a lightening strike damaged the top storey, and Firuz Shah Tughlaq, replaced it and added one more storey to the Minar. When Mughal ruler, Humayun was in exile and Sher Shah was the ruler, he constructed an entrance to it.
The usual perception is that the minar is named after Qutb-ud-din Aibak, the possibility of its naming after Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki was also into the light, as Iltutmish was his devotee. In 1505, Sikander Lodi repaired the minar, as itbwas damaged by an earthquake. The minar was again damaged by a major earthquake on 1st September 1803. In 1892, Major Robert Smith renovated the tower. He also constructed a pillared cupola over the fifth storey of the tower. It was then reinstalled at ground level to the east of the Minar in 1848, by the order of then governor general of India, Viscount Hardinge. The structure is currently known as “Smith’s Folly”.
Structure, Design and Architecture
The Qutab Minar is the world’s tallest minaret built of bricks, with height of 72.5 meters. The tower has a 14.3 metres base diameter, and diameter of 2.7 metres at the top of the peak. The tower has five superposed storeys. The lowest three storeys comprises of fluted cylindrical shafts of red sandstone. The columns or shafts are separated by flanges and balconies. The fourth column is relatively plain and made up of marble. The fifth storey is constructed with marble and sandstone. Darker red sandstone was used throughout the flanges, and are engraved with texts of Quran and other decorative elements.
The tower contains a staircase of 379 steps, which is spiral in shape. Quwat ul Islam Mosque is situated at the foot of the Minar. The tower tilts from the vertical just over 65 cm.
The tower is surrounded by different historical monuments of the qutb complex. To the North east of tower, exists Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, which is the earliest existed mosque built by the Sultans of Delhi. It consists of architecture involving both Hindu and Jain temple, but, the same were demolished by Qutub-ud-Din Aibak, and same was recorded in his inscription too. Later, Shams-ud- Din Itutmish and Ala – ud – din – Khakhi enlarged the mosque. The pillar was said to be set up in memory of a king Chandra, as a Vishnudhvaja or standard of Hindu god Vishnu on the hill known as Vishnupada, because the Iron Pillar in the courtyard has an inscription in Brahmi script of fourth century A.D.
The Qutb Minar’s different section has Parso-Arabic and Nagari kind of architecture, which reveals the history and restoration of its construction, by different rulers of different time.
Accidents
The tower is prone to the accidents since the very beginning. It has to suffer lightening and earthquake, Resulting into damage to the building. In 1981, due to failing of staircase lighting, chaos was developed among the tourists and around 47 people including school children were killed. Access to the top of the minar was stopped by the government in 2000 due to the suicide case from the top of the tower. In India, the concept of minar is quite detached. However, The Mini Qutub Minar and Chand Minar are inspired from Qutub Minar and bear resemblance to it. Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan also bears close resemblance to the Qutab Minar.
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