Images Dated 24th November 2014

Intricate Stone Carvings on the Cloister Columns at Quwwat ul-Islam Mosque, Qutb complex, Delhi, India

The Qutb complex, also spelled Qutab or Qutub, is an array of monuments and buildings at Mehrauli in Delhi, India. The best-known structure in the complex is the Qutb Minar, built to honor the Sufi saint Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki. Its foundation was laid by Qutb-ud-din Aibak, who later became the first Sultan of Delhi of the Mamluk dynasty. The Minar was added upon by his successor Iltutmish (a.k.a. Altamash), and much later by Firoz Shah Tughlaq, a Sultan of Delhi from the Tughlaq dynasty in 1368 AD. The Qubbat-ul-Islam Mosque (or, Dome of Islam), later corrupted into Quwwat-ul Islam stands next to the Qutb Minar. It was built on the ruins of Lal Kot Fort (built by Anangpal, the Tomar Gurjar ruler, in 739 CE) and Qila-Rai-Pithora (the Gurjar king Prithviraj Chauhan's city), whom Ghori's Afghan armies had earlier defeated and killed in the Second Battle of Tarain.
The mosque is built on a raised and paved courtyard, measuring 141 ft (43 m). X 105 ft (32 m), surrounded by pillared cloisters added by Iltutmish between 1210 and 1220 AD. The stone screen between prayer hall and the courtyard, stood 16 mt at its highest was added in 1196 AD, the corbelled arches had Arabic inscriptions and motifs. Entrances to the courtyard, also uses ornate mandap dome from temples, whose pillars are used extensively throughout the edifice, and in the sanctuary beyond the tall arched screens. What survives today of the sanctuary on the western side are the arched screens in between, which once led to a series of aisles with low-domed ceilings for worshippers.
The mosque is in ruins today but indigenous corbelled arches, floral motifs, and geometric patterns can be seen among the Islamic architectural structures. To the west of the Quwwat ul-Islam mosque is the tomb of Iltutmish which was built by the monarch in 1235

© :: Artie | Photography ::