Qutab Minar

 For our chardham Yatra, we started our visit with not a dham, not so sanatani place - Qutab Minar in Delhi.

The minar was started by Qutub Uddin aibak in the year 1299, founder of slave dynasty. What an oxymoron- Slave dynasty! Or what a great feat. 

Anyways this five storied minar representative of Islamic architecture has inscriptions from Quran in calligraphy.

It has had a colorful history- having been damaged and rebuilt multiple times. 

What interested my spouse’s interest is an iron tower in the complex - a Vishnu dhwaja from 375 AD. It was probably brought from Udayagiri caves in Madhya Pradesh. What makes it unique is its rust resistant composition - staying strong and intact for the last 1700 years. This tower has inscriptions of Sanskrit. (Form me neither script makes sense - I can and would read if these inscriptions are written in English - in bold big letters)

This massive pillar is 23’8” tall and weighs 6 tonnes. 

There was also a gate with intricate inscriptions in I assume Arabic. 

My vain attempt to capture sunset