The Kutb Minar was built by Sultan Iltutmish
alone about A.D. 1232. The statement in most books, including
Fanshawe (pp. 265-8, with plates), that it was _begun_ by Sultan
Kutb-ud-din, is erroneous.
21. The notion of the Hindoo origin of the Kutb Minar, which the
author justly stigmatizes as 'foolish', was taken up by Sir Sayyid
Ahmad Khan, the author of an Urdu work on the antiquities of Delhi,
and by Sir A. Cunningham's assistant, Mr. Beglar, who wasted a great
part of volume iv of the _Archaeological Survey Reports_ in trying to
prove the paradox. His speculations on the subject were conclusively
refuted by his chief in the Preface (pp. v-x) of the same volume. The
minar was built by Hindoo masons, and, in consequence, some of the
details, notably its overlapping or corbelled arches, are Hindoo.
22. This is correct. The Hindoo 'towers of victory' are in a totally
different style.
23. On the misnomer 'Pathans', see _ante_, previous note 6.
24. The Kutb mosque was constructed from the materials of twenty-
seven Hindoo temples. The colonnades retain much of their Hindoo
character. (Fanshawe, p.
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