D.M.G._, 1911, pp. 221-
10). See also _E.H.I._, 3rd ed. (Oxford, 1914), chap. 6, 7, with
Bibliography. Certain of the Gupta emperors in the fifth century A.C.
also erected monolith pillars. Some of the pillars of the Gupta
period commemorate victories; others are merely religious monuments.
18. Fergusson thought the Kutb Minar superior to Giotto's campanile
at Florence in 'poetry of design and exquisite finish of detail'. He
also held it to excel its taller Egyptian rival, the minaret of the
mosque of Hasan at Cairo, in its nobler appearance, as well as in
design and finish. To sum up, he held the Delhi monument to surpass
any building of its class in the whole world. (_Hist. of Indian and
Eastern Architecture_, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 206.)
19. Fergusson (ibid.) was mistaken in supposing that the Kutb Minar
was intended for anything else than a _mazina_, or tower from which
the call to prayers should be proclaimed. It is that and nothing
else. Several examples of early mosques with only one _minar_ each
are known, at Koil and Bayana, in India, as well as at Ghazni and
Cairo. The unfinished _minar_ of Alauddin near the Kutb Minar was
intended for a distinct building, namely, his addition to the
original Kutb mosque.
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