259 and plate.)
25. The author's description of the unfinished tower is far from
accurate. The tower was begun, not by Shams-ud-din Iltutmish, but by
Ala-ud-din Muhammad Shah, in the year A.H. 711 (A.D. 1311). It is
about 82 feet in diameter, and when cased with marble, as was
intended, would have been at least 85 feet in diameter, or nearly
double that of the Kutb Minar, which is 48 feet 4 inches. The total
height of the column as it now stands is about 75 feet above the
plinth, or 87 feet above the ground level. (_A.S.R._, vol. i, p. 205;
vol. iv, p. 62, pl. vii; Thomas, _Chronicles_, p. 173, citing
original authorities.) Carr Stephen (p. 67) gives the circumference
as 254 feet, and the height as about 80 feet.
26. Ala-ud-din's additions were never completed. The sack of Delhi by
Timur Lang (Tamerlane) took place in December 1398. The Delhi sacked
by him was the city known as Firozabad.
27. The glory of the mosque is . . . the great range of arches on the
western side, extending north and south for about 385 feet, and
consisting of three greater and eight smaller arches; the central one
22 feet wide, and 53 feet high; the larger side-arches, 24 feet 4
inches, and about the same height as the central arch; the smaller
arches, which are unfortunately much ruined, are about half these
dimensions.
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