Some history behind the tilting Piza of India.

This blog is result of some enquiry into the history behind the Qutub Minar on which I had posted some information and photographs earlier. One of the visitors to my blog - Maddy (whose blogs I follow regularly and I like them for his scholarly and beautiful writings e.g. Historic Alleys) has raised some points as to the reason why such a structure would have been built and whether there were any surrounding structures around this Minaret, and this is response to it. Actually like other Minarets, Qutub Minar also is surrounded by structures, but most of them are damaged and ruined. To find the reason behind why this huge structure was created, I did some enquiry and got this information from the Wikipedia.

Inspired by the Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan and wishing to surpass it, Qutb-ud-din Aibak, the first Muslim ruler of Delhi, commenced construction of the Qutb Minar in 1193, but could only complete its base. His successor, Iltutmish, added three more storeys and, in 1386, Firuz Shah Tughluq constructed the fifth and the last storey. The development of architectural styles from Aibak to Tughluq are quite evident in the minaret. Like earlier towers erected by the Ghaznavids and Ghurids in Afghanistan, the Qutb Minar comprises several superposed flanged and cylindrical shafts, separated by balconies carried on Muqarnas corbels. The minaret is made of fluted red sandstone covered with intricate carvings and verses from the Qur'an. The Qutb Minar is itself built on the ruins of Lal Kot, the Red Citadel in the city of Dhillika (may be Dhillika became Dhilli as Delhi is pronounced in Hindi), the capital of the Tomars and the Chauhans, the last Hindu rulers of Delhi.

The purpose for building this monument has been variously speculated upon. It could take the usual role of a minaret, calling people for prayer in the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, the earliest extant mosque built by the Delhi Sultans. Other possibilities are a tower of victory, a monument signifying the might of Islam, or a watch tower for defense. Controversy also surrounds the origins for the name of the tower. Many historians believe that the Qutb Minar was named after the first Turkish sultan, Qutb-ud-din Aibak but others contend that it was named in honour of Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, a saint from Baghdad who came to live in India and was greatly venerated by Iltutmish.

The Minaret is tilting??

Like the Piza tower, the Qutub Minar is also tilting. The Survey of India has conducted geodetic survey of Qutb Minar at the behest of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and submitted its report to ASI in 2008. The report indicates that the Minar has tilted between 9 to 11 seconds from 1983 to 2005 and annual rate of tilt is 0.5 to 3 seconds.

Emperor Qutbuddin Aibak laid the foundation of Minar in AD 1199 for the use of the muazzin to give calls for prayer and raised the first storey. Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, to the north-east of the Minar, was built by him in AD 1198. Three storeys were added to the Minar by his successor and son-in-law, Shamsudsin Iltutmish (AD 1211-36).