What not to do when travelling: Back in Delhi

I should have just gone ahead and returned to Delhi on a bus during the day. I really didn't do too much during the day after arriving. I did however go to see the latest Mission Impossible movie. I quite liked it, but I really, really didn't like the 20 minute intermission right after the chick got kicked out the window of the world's tallest building. Then I slept for 12 hours. I don't know why I did that. I wasn't that tired. But bright eyed and bushy tailed at the ripe old hour of 11 in the morning, I got up and decided what to do for the second last day in India.

There are lots and lots of places of interest in Delhi. It's almost a shame that I don't have more time, and more money, to spend here. My chosen site for what remained of the day was a place called the Qutab Minar (or Qutub Minar, or Qutb Minar, depending on the sign one reads, or the person one talks to). It was a place that was built by the Muslim rulers of roughly a thousand years ago.

It is a stop on the Delhi metro system, so I figured it should be quite near the station. The train came out above ground just before my destination. Looking out the windows, I saw a domed building of some sort in the distance. I didn't see something looking like the Qutab Minar, however which was a tall minaret tower. (I don't know why I didn't see it at the time; it was pretty much right next to the domed building, and much taller. But the benefit of knowing where everything was located was something I didn't have as I returned to station later.) The domed building looked old and I thought it could be another point of interest if I could figure out where it was exactly and what it might be called. Luckily at the exit to the station there were two information panels that talked about the Qutab Minar complex as well as another complex that was nearby, called the Mehrauli Archaeological Park. I would have bet any money that was the place with the domed building. It was also, according to the panels, quite close to the Qutab Minar complex.

Outside the station, I was approached by a bunch of tuk tuk drivers wanting to take me to the Qutab Minar area. I guessed this was a high traffic area for getting to the complex. I guess it's not so surprising given the name of the station. I went with the guy who said the magic words: “shared taxi” and “20 rupees.” Of course, he also said it was 3 kilometers away and it definitely wasn't. But not having seen the tower from the station, I didn't know exactly where I was going, so I went with the guy. It wasn't going to cost very much.

I got there and realized, that as a World Heritage Site, this was going to be a 250 rupee ticket. And they had an audio guide available. With that being a hundred more, I was a bit worried that I might be over-extending my last cash. I only had about 2000 rupees left for two and half days. I was going to have to play it a bit carefully so that I wouldn't need to go to the bank machine. But I have been liking the audio guides, so I sprang for it this time as well. It turned out to be not a good choice. I believe they have just rolled the feature at this particular site. As I walked up to the window, they were still taking things out of plastic packaging. And as that might suggest, they still have kinks to work out of the system. As I was going through the site, the audio stations were poorly identified and not really well laid out, so it was a bit confusing. As a result, I was somewhat frustrated by using it and didn't get as much as I might have out of the guide.

Nevertheless, the Qutab Minar complex is another fascinating piece of history in Delhi. The most impressive part of the complex is the minar itself. It is a very tall tower with the mark of three early emperors. The bottom half of the tower was built by Qutbud-Din Aibak. Then he died. The second, third, and fourth stages of the tower were constructed under emperor Iltutmish. This lasted until roughly the next thunderstorm, when lightning struck the tower and destroyed the top story. It wa replaced by a third emperor, Firuz Tughluq. He replaced what had been red sandstone with white marble, giving the tower a very interesting look.

This was not the end of the construction story for the Minar, however. During the English colonial period, an Englishman by the name of Smith came along and thought it didn't look quite complete. So he added a bit to the top of the structure. Later an English viceroy decided that the addition didn't look right and had it removed. The addition wasn't destroyed though and today sits off in a corner of the complex. It is somewhat cheekily (if rightfully) called Smith's Folly.

The Minar was built beside a mosque that was built by the rulers. However the mosque was built very early in the Muslim rule of India. As a result the craftsmen they had access to were mainly Hindu and were unfamiliar with Muslim building styles. Thus, the mosque has many Hindu building features. Muslim architecture does not have a lot of decoration, so this mosque is somewhat unique for its adornments and ornamental carvings on the columns. There is another theory about the ornate carvings in some parts of the mosque. The mosque was built on top of an older, Hindu temple. The temple would have had pillars with ornate carvings on them and it is thought that they used the pillars in building the mosque and thus there are these ornate carvings.

The west wall of the Mosque, facing Mecca, was the prayer wall of the mosque. Huge is stature, it was an imposing structure, even in ruins. There were a number of arches through the wall, allowing passage to the west, but it must have been an awesome part of the mosque in its time.

Successive early Muslim rulers wanted to increase the power and grandeur of the mosque and complex. The Qutab Minar was built as a monument to victory. The mosque was also increase in size. Or so the audio guide informed me. I couldn't really see what it was talking about, but there are apparently signs of the mosque having been expanded in size two times to make the mosque quite massive. But I really didn't know where the walls were of this massive mosque. I took the audio guide's word for it.

Off to the north of the mosque one ruler, Ala-un-Din Khalji, decided to make an even greater monument than the Qutab Minar. He wanted a tower twice the size of the Qutab Minar. He had his workers set about building, but they got only this far before he died. The audio guide had people playing the parts of the various characters. The guy playing Khalji stated that his advisors were jealous and betrayed him. This suggested to me that perhaps his death was not entirely natural or accidental, that maybe he had been taken out. But the narrator only said he had died before he could finish the new tower. The information plaques said the same.

In any case, the new tower would certainly have been a sight. It still is, but for different reasons. The flutings on the sides are easy to see, but whatever ornate work would have graced the outside of the building is left to the imagination.

In another corner of the complex is the tomb of Iltutmish, one of those who built the Qutab Minar. Unlike most Muslim tombs, this one had no dome on it. There are lots of theories (although apparently no records from the time), one of them being that it was left open to appease God. Archaeological evidence, however, suggests there was a dome, and it collapsed. Actually there is evidence that there were at least two domes, both of which collapsed. And the ghost of Iltutmish (on the audio guide) had the gall to blame the Indian workers building it, as they didn't know the technology of building domes. I say it's a poor leader who blames his subjects. (As in, it's a poor carpenter who blames his tools; get it? Ha ha!) Inside, however, are some ornate carvings along the western wall.

The ruins were in very good condition. This may have been due to it having been covered up by sand and dirt. After enjoying a prominent position in the empire for a long time, the site was abandoned and gradually faded from the world. During the period British rule, it was rediscovered and dug up and restored. Now it is one of the premier archaeological sites in Delhi. Or it would be if more people knew about it. I had never heard of it before I got here. But then I haven't really researched much about the places I have visited. But everyone has heard of the Red Fort, no?

I left the complex and headed off to find the nearby Mehrauli complex. But I was unsure what direction to go to find it. I looked around for about a half hour trying to find it. I failed. I ended up heading back in the direction of the station.

Along the way, I saw a pavement chandelier shop sitting among the trees.