. . . The famous iron
pillar at the Kutb, near Delhi, indicates an amount of skill in the
manipulation of a large mass of wrought iron which has been the
marvel of all who have endeavoured to account for it. It is not many
years since the production of such a pillar would have been an
impossibility in the largest foundries of the world, and even now
there are comparatively few where a similar mass of metal could be
tumed out. . . . The total weight must exceed six tons.' (V. Ball,
_Economic Geology of India_, pp. 338, 339.) The metal is uninjured by
rust, and the inscription is perfect. An exact facsimile is set up in
the Indian Section of the Victoria and Albert Museum at South
Kensington, The pillar is shown, with the smaller arches of the
mosque, in _H.F.A._ fig. 232. See also Fanshawe, pp. 260, 264, and
plates. The inscription was edited by Fleet (_Gupta Inscriptions_,
1888, No. 32). The dimensions of the pillar are as follows: Height
above ground (total), 22 ft,; height below ground, 1 ft. 8 in.;
diameter at base, 16.4 in.; diameter at the capital, 12.05 in.;
height of capital, 3 1/2 ft.
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