03-27-2006, 11:50 PM
Book Review in Pioneer, 27 Mrach 2006
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Monument as a reference clue
The volume is striking for the sheer wealth of detail and the simple elegance of its prose that tempts the reader to take it long for a Qutb tour - Sandhya Jain
<b>QUTB MINAR AND ITS MONUMENTS BY BM PANDE OUP, RS 395 </b>
One of the most critical aspects of the study and appreciation of heritage monuments is their place in a specific historical context, which enables a visitor to envisage the entire socio-political-cultural spectrum of a bygone era, keeping the monument as a reference point. This honest and unbiased understanding of the past is the principal reason for modern man's preservation of heritage sites, though the sheer beauty of some buildings and art works is, as the poet Emerson said in another context, its own excuse for being.
<b>This is why independent India's propensity to exploit its archaeological heritage almost exclusively for its tourism potential is unhealthy, as it tends to delink the past of a continuous civilisation. </b>This may work for countries like Egypt, where a severe civilisational rupture has rendered the beauties of the past meaningless to ordinary Egyptians, but it cannot be the preferred model for eternal India, and Dr BM Pande has done well to draw attention to this danger in his short but eminently readable Qutb Minar and its Monuments.
The book is striking for the sheer wealth of detail and the simple elegance of its prose that tempts the reader to take it along for a Qutb tour. As Delhi's single most important landmark, such a thorough scrutiny of the Qutb is welcome, and Oxford University Press has done well to undertake such an effort for 21 cultural sites in India.
<b>Pande ends the Minar's solitary status by placing it within the Mehrauli Archaeological Park covering nearly 100 acres and over seventy heritage buildings.</b> Mehrauli, where the Minar dominates the landscape and the imagination, has a hoary past, being the site of Delhi's first-known defence construction, Lal Kot, built by the Tomar ruler Anangpal. The name derives from Mihirapuri (or Mihirapalli), which suggests the existence of a sun temple.
Mehrauli is equally renowned for the famous Yogamaya temple and the tomb of Bakhtyar Kaki, both linked by the famous annual Phoolwalon ki Sair held during September-October, in which fans made of flowers are carried in procession to the temple and dargah. Pande suggests the temple was possibly the site of an earlier yogini temple as the area was once known as Yoginipura; the name is mentioned in the Palam Baoli inscription dated 1274 CE, as an alternative of Dhilli, an old name for Delhi. Both Dhilli and Yoginipura find frequent mention in Jaina Pattavalis.
The Qutb complex is important because it represents the cusp of Indian history, the site where Hindu rulers yield to the invading armies of a foreign faith. Anangpal II built Lal Kot between 1052 and 1060 CE. Materials from this citadel and fortification of the Tomars and Chauhans who ruled Delhi from the tenth to the twelfth century, were reused in the Quwwatu'l Islam mosque and other buildings. The complex contains buildings of the later Mughal period, such as the tomb of Imam Zamin who came to India from Turkestan during the reign of Sikandar Lodi (1488-1517) and the seventeenth-century tomb of Muhammad Quli Khan used as a residence by Metcalfe.
Delhi's most famous Chauhan (Chahamana) ruler was Vigraharaja IV (1153-64 CE), also known as Visaladeva or Bisaldeo, who captured the city from the Tomars. His exploits are engraved on the Ashokan pillar at Kotla Firoz Shah. The Tomar Rajputs were feudatories of the Pratiharas and gained control over Delhi in the eighth century.
A strong bardic tradition links the Suraj Kund reservoir south-east of Tughluqabad with Surajpal of the Tomar dynasty. The Anangpur dam is ascribed to Anangpal of the same dynasty, mentioned in Prithvirajaraso as the founder of Delhi. Tradition says the Iron Pillar was brought by Anangpal and installed in its present location, where the Qutb complex arose later.
Iltutmish (1211-36CE) extended the Quwwatu'l Islam mosque, completed the Qutb Minar, and built Sultan Ghari's tomb, which is worth a visit. After some years of political instability, Balban came to power (1265 to 1287 CE). His tomb lies close to the Qutb, and is worth visiting as it is the first Indo-Islamic building using the Indo-Islamic building using the true arch.
'Alau'd-Din Khalji (1296-1316) is well known for his architectural exertions. His tomb, madarsa, the elegant gateway known as the 'Ala'I Darwaza, and the unfinished 'Ala'I Minar, all lie within the Qutb complex. He extended the Quwwatu'l Islam mosque and repaired the Qutb Minar. In 1303, he laid the foundations of Siri, the second city of Delhi, and in 1305 built a large tank called Hauz-i-'Ala'I, now Hauz-Khas. Pande painstakingly details the contributions of the Tughluq, Lodi, Sher Shah and Moghal dynasties to Delhi's landscape, and thus effectively gives the reader a bird's eye view of the principal monuments of pre-Independence India.
Yet the wealth of detail lavished upon the Qutb complex is revealing to citizens who would have visited the structure on a school or family picnic, dependent on the services of an ill-equipped guide. The Qutb, built 1109 CE, is actually only an adjunct of the Quwwatu'I Islam Masjid, or the 'Might of Islam' mosque, erected on the plinth of an earlier temple.
The inner lintel of its entrance doorway carries an inscription of Qutbu'd-Din Aibak in Arabic, in Naskh (or Naskhi) scripit, recording the demolition of 27 temples, the materials of which were used to build the mosque. These Hindu and Jain temples were, the inscription says, were built at a cost of 20-lakh coins each.
<b>Interestingly, at the corners of the mosque, mezzanine floors were raised for female worshippers.</b> This is interesting given the controversy some years ago regarding the permissibility of female worshippers in mosques.
The circular ceiling behind the entrance doorway on the eastern side and the mezzanine storeys reflect the original temple ceiling, and comprise several sculptures, ornamental motifs, and beautifully carved figures in almost each pillar or bracket, most deliberately disfigured. The pillar motifs are typical of Hindu temples, such as the chain-and-bell, ghata-pallava or pot with flowers, endless knots, creepers, louts flowers.
<b>The mezzanine on the south-eastern end of the cloister has well-preserved lintels with scenes from the life of the Jain Tirthankars and various Jain deities. A Jain tradition states that the site had a temple dedicated to the Tirthankara Parshvanatha, built prior to 1132 by Sahu Nattal, an Agrawal minister in the court of Tomar ruler Anangpal III. This is mentioned by the poet Shridhara in his Parshva Purana.</b>
A lintel over a window in the north facade of the mosque shows the birth of Krishna and events of his life. A pillar on the southern side clearly shows a seated Tirthankara. The Qutb area has also yielded some Hindu and Jain sculptures from now vanished temples, such as a beautiful four-armed Vishnu with the date Samvat 1204 (now in the National Museum, Delhi. Pande mentions the masons' marks engraved on some pillars in the Quwwatu'I Islam mosque, which reveal that the materials originally came from buildings of the time of Anangpal, founder of Lal Kot.
<b>The Iron Pillar has always been the odd man out in the Qutb complex. Its Sanskrit inscription in the Gupta script dates it around the fourth century CE on paleographic grounds. The pillar is also engraved with later inscriptions, one of which states, in Nagari, that in Samvat Dihali 1109 Anangpal founded Delhi.</b>
For Delhi lovers, this book is a truly worthwhile investment, because it not only details the significance of the city's extant Islamic structures, but reaches back into the past to capture the timeless memory of an era when Delhi resonated with the heroic exploits of its Rajput kings and romped with a dark god on the shores of the Yamuna.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Monument as a reference clue
The volume is striking for the sheer wealth of detail and the simple elegance of its prose that tempts the reader to take it long for a Qutb tour - Sandhya Jain
<b>QUTB MINAR AND ITS MONUMENTS BY BM PANDE OUP, RS 395 </b>
One of the most critical aspects of the study and appreciation of heritage monuments is their place in a specific historical context, which enables a visitor to envisage the entire socio-political-cultural spectrum of a bygone era, keeping the monument as a reference point. This honest and unbiased understanding of the past is the principal reason for modern man's preservation of heritage sites, though the sheer beauty of some buildings and art works is, as the poet Emerson said in another context, its own excuse for being.
<b>This is why independent India's propensity to exploit its archaeological heritage almost exclusively for its tourism potential is unhealthy, as it tends to delink the past of a continuous civilisation. </b>This may work for countries like Egypt, where a severe civilisational rupture has rendered the beauties of the past meaningless to ordinary Egyptians, but it cannot be the preferred model for eternal India, and Dr BM Pande has done well to draw attention to this danger in his short but eminently readable Qutb Minar and its Monuments.
The book is striking for the sheer wealth of detail and the simple elegance of its prose that tempts the reader to take it along for a Qutb tour. As Delhi's single most important landmark, such a thorough scrutiny of the Qutb is welcome, and Oxford University Press has done well to undertake such an effort for 21 cultural sites in India.
<b>Pande ends the Minar's solitary status by placing it within the Mehrauli Archaeological Park covering nearly 100 acres and over seventy heritage buildings.</b> Mehrauli, where the Minar dominates the landscape and the imagination, has a hoary past, being the site of Delhi's first-known defence construction, Lal Kot, built by the Tomar ruler Anangpal. The name derives from Mihirapuri (or Mihirapalli), which suggests the existence of a sun temple.
Mehrauli is equally renowned for the famous Yogamaya temple and the tomb of Bakhtyar Kaki, both linked by the famous annual Phoolwalon ki Sair held during September-October, in which fans made of flowers are carried in procession to the temple and dargah. Pande suggests the temple was possibly the site of an earlier yogini temple as the area was once known as Yoginipura; the name is mentioned in the Palam Baoli inscription dated 1274 CE, as an alternative of Dhilli, an old name for Delhi. Both Dhilli and Yoginipura find frequent mention in Jaina Pattavalis.
The Qutb complex is important because it represents the cusp of Indian history, the site where Hindu rulers yield to the invading armies of a foreign faith. Anangpal II built Lal Kot between 1052 and 1060 CE. Materials from this citadel and fortification of the Tomars and Chauhans who ruled Delhi from the tenth to the twelfth century, were reused in the Quwwatu'l Islam mosque and other buildings. The complex contains buildings of the later Mughal period, such as the tomb of Imam Zamin who came to India from Turkestan during the reign of Sikandar Lodi (1488-1517) and the seventeenth-century tomb of Muhammad Quli Khan used as a residence by Metcalfe.
Delhi's most famous Chauhan (Chahamana) ruler was Vigraharaja IV (1153-64 CE), also known as Visaladeva or Bisaldeo, who captured the city from the Tomars. His exploits are engraved on the Ashokan pillar at Kotla Firoz Shah. The Tomar Rajputs were feudatories of the Pratiharas and gained control over Delhi in the eighth century.
A strong bardic tradition links the Suraj Kund reservoir south-east of Tughluqabad with Surajpal of the Tomar dynasty. The Anangpur dam is ascribed to Anangpal of the same dynasty, mentioned in Prithvirajaraso as the founder of Delhi. Tradition says the Iron Pillar was brought by Anangpal and installed in its present location, where the Qutb complex arose later.
Iltutmish (1211-36CE) extended the Quwwatu'l Islam mosque, completed the Qutb Minar, and built Sultan Ghari's tomb, which is worth a visit. After some years of political instability, Balban came to power (1265 to 1287 CE). His tomb lies close to the Qutb, and is worth visiting as it is the first Indo-Islamic building using the Indo-Islamic building using the true arch.
'Alau'd-Din Khalji (1296-1316) is well known for his architectural exertions. His tomb, madarsa, the elegant gateway known as the 'Ala'I Darwaza, and the unfinished 'Ala'I Minar, all lie within the Qutb complex. He extended the Quwwatu'l Islam mosque and repaired the Qutb Minar. In 1303, he laid the foundations of Siri, the second city of Delhi, and in 1305 built a large tank called Hauz-i-'Ala'I, now Hauz-Khas. Pande painstakingly details the contributions of the Tughluq, Lodi, Sher Shah and Moghal dynasties to Delhi's landscape, and thus effectively gives the reader a bird's eye view of the principal monuments of pre-Independence India.
Yet the wealth of detail lavished upon the Qutb complex is revealing to citizens who would have visited the structure on a school or family picnic, dependent on the services of an ill-equipped guide. The Qutb, built 1109 CE, is actually only an adjunct of the Quwwatu'I Islam Masjid, or the 'Might of Islam' mosque, erected on the plinth of an earlier temple.
The inner lintel of its entrance doorway carries an inscription of Qutbu'd-Din Aibak in Arabic, in Naskh (or Naskhi) scripit, recording the demolition of 27 temples, the materials of which were used to build the mosque. These Hindu and Jain temples were, the inscription says, were built at a cost of 20-lakh coins each.
<b>Interestingly, at the corners of the mosque, mezzanine floors were raised for female worshippers.</b> This is interesting given the controversy some years ago regarding the permissibility of female worshippers in mosques.
The circular ceiling behind the entrance doorway on the eastern side and the mezzanine storeys reflect the original temple ceiling, and comprise several sculptures, ornamental motifs, and beautifully carved figures in almost each pillar or bracket, most deliberately disfigured. The pillar motifs are typical of Hindu temples, such as the chain-and-bell, ghata-pallava or pot with flowers, endless knots, creepers, louts flowers.
<b>The mezzanine on the south-eastern end of the cloister has well-preserved lintels with scenes from the life of the Jain Tirthankars and various Jain deities. A Jain tradition states that the site had a temple dedicated to the Tirthankara Parshvanatha, built prior to 1132 by Sahu Nattal, an Agrawal minister in the court of Tomar ruler Anangpal III. This is mentioned by the poet Shridhara in his Parshva Purana.</b>
A lintel over a window in the north facade of the mosque shows the birth of Krishna and events of his life. A pillar on the southern side clearly shows a seated Tirthankara. The Qutb area has also yielded some Hindu and Jain sculptures from now vanished temples, such as a beautiful four-armed Vishnu with the date Samvat 1204 (now in the National Museum, Delhi. Pande mentions the masons' marks engraved on some pillars in the Quwwatu'I Islam mosque, which reveal that the materials originally came from buildings of the time of Anangpal, founder of Lal Kot.
<b>The Iron Pillar has always been the odd man out in the Qutb complex. Its Sanskrit inscription in the Gupta script dates it around the fourth century CE on paleographic grounds. The pillar is also engraved with later inscriptions, one of which states, in Nagari, that in Samvat Dihali 1109 Anangpal founded Delhi.</b>
For Delhi lovers, this book is a truly worthwhile investment, because it not only details the significance of the city's extant Islamic structures, but reaches back into the past to capture the timeless memory of an era when Delhi resonated with the heroic exploits of its Rajput kings and romped with a dark god on the shores of the Yamuna.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->