' The great arch 'has since been carefully restored by
Government under efficient superintendence, and is now as sound and
complete as when first erected. The two great side arches either were
never completed, or have fallen down in consequence of the false mode
of construction.' (Fergusson, _Hist. of I. and E. Archit._, ed. 1910,
vol. ii, pp. 203, 204). The centre arch bears an inscription dated in
A.H. 594, or A.D. 1198 (Thomas, _Chronicles_, p. 24).
28. Most of the description of the Iron Pillar in the text is
erroneous. The pillar has nothing to do with Prithi Raj, who was
slain by the Muhammadans in A.D. 1192 (A.H. 588). The earliest
inscription on it records the victories of a Raja Chandra, probably
Chandra-varman, chief of Pokharan in Rajputana in the fourth century
A.C. (_E.H.I._, 3rd ed., 1914, p. 290, note). The pillar is by no
means 'small' when its material is considered; on the contrary, it is
very large. That material is not 'bronze, or a metal which resembles
bronze', but is pure malleable iron, as proved by analysis. It has
been suggested that this pillar must have been formed by gradually
welding pieces together; if so, it has been done very skilfully,
since no marks of such welding are to be seen.
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