utb
Minar enclosure is reached. The great Kuwwat ul Islam mosque of
Kutbuddin Aibak (page 204) was constructed out of the materials of a
Jain temple which stood on the site. Evidence of this is to be found in
the imperfectly defaced sculptures on the pillars. An iron pillar nearly
24 feet in height dating back probably to the sixth century stands in
the court. The splendid column known as the Kutb Minar (page 205), begun
by Kutbuddin and completed by his successor Shams ud din Altamsh, was
the minaret of the mosque from which the _mu'azzin_ called the faithful
to prayer. The disappointment that may be felt when it is seen from a
distance is impossible on a nearer view. Its height is now 238 feet, but
it was formerly surmounted "by a majestic cupola of red granite." Close
by is the Alai Darwaza, a magnificent gateway built by Ala ud din
Tughlak in 1310, about 90 years after the Minar was finished. Five miles
east of the Kutb are the cyclopean ruins of Tughlakabad (page 206).

~Delhi past and present.~--The Delhi of Aurangzeb was as much a camp as a
city. When the Emperor moved to Agra or Kashmir the town was emptied of
a large part of its inhabitants. It contained one or two fine _bazars_,
and nobles and rich merchants and shopkeepers had good houses, set
sometimes in pleasant gardens. But the crowds of servants and followers
occupied mud huts, whose thatched roofs led to frequent and widespread
fires. In that insanitary age these may have been blessings in disguise.
"In Delhi," wrote Bernier, "there is no middle state. A man must either
be of the highest rank or live miserably.... For two or three who wear
decent apparel there may always be reckoned seven or eight poor, ragged,
and miserable beings." The ordinary street architecture of modern Delhi
is mean enough, and posterity will not open an eyelid to look at the
public buildings which its present rulers have erected in the city. But
at least the common folk of Delhi are better housed, fed, and clad than
ever before. It is now a clean well-managed town with a good water
supply, and it has become an important railway centre and a thriving
place of trade. Since 1881 the population has steadily increased from
173,393 to 232,837 in 1911. In 1911-12 the imports into Delhi City from
places outside the Panjab amounted to 9,172,302 maunds. There are some
fifteen cotton ginning, spinning, and weaving mills, besides flour
mills, iron foundries, two biscuit manufactories, and a