Qutub Minar

Qutub Minar is on the edge of Delhi and was probably the most interesting site we visited yesterday. It's alos the oldest. It is a complex made up of a victory tower (the Qutub Minar), as well as a mosque. This is the oldest mosque in Delhi, and I think maybe the oldest one in India. The tower is the tallest brick minaret in the world (72.5m), and was built in the late 12th century. It was constructed by Qutb-ud-din Aibak who was the first muslim ruler of Delhi, and was meant as a 'victory tower' to symbolize the new Muslim dominance of the local Hindu population. It's huge. Some say that it was actually built to be used as a minaret, but the problem is that it's so tall, there is some doubt whether the muezzin would even be audible from the top... There are 379 stairs to climb it, which I wanted to do but sadly it is no longer open for climbing. Oetzi says...probably best that way...climbing towers like this is a good way to hurt yourself... One interesting thing about the mosque complex at Qutub Minar is that it was built on ground that was previously occupied by 27 Hindu temples. However, the incoming muslim ruler wanted these temples destroyed and had a mosque and victory tower built on top of them to symbolize islamic dominance over the indigenous hindu peolpe. The mosque was built from the pieces of the destroyed hindu temples. However, one interesting feature is that, although islam forbids the use of animal or human sculpture in holy architecture, hinduism sees animals as sacred and so includes many kinds of human and animal sculpture in its temples. The hindu builders of the new mosque were aware of this and featured bits of human and animal sculpture prominently in the new mosque's construction, thereby thwarting the invader's wishes and preserving their impact on the mosque. By the time the overseers of the work realized the faux pas that was being committed, it was too late and the pieces were already in place. Therefore, they decided to cover up the ornamental sculpture with plaster so that it would be plain. This worked fine when the mosque was new. However, after 9 centuries of wear, most of the plaster is gone and now the original sculpture shows through. I think it's a beautiful and poetically just thing to see the original hindu craftsmanship show through after all this time.

Here is a column showcasing the original hindu sculpture work:

In the photo below you can see some places where the plaster is still in place on top of the original sculpture.

Neat. Oetzi says he knows what it's like to stand the test of time. That's a page out of his book. Word.