DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27192#0243
DELHI.
209
Chap. III.
As the inscription informs us the pillar was dedicated to
Vishnu, there is little doubt that it originally supported a figure
of Garuda on the summit, which the Muhammadans of course
removed ; but the real object of its erection was as a dhwaja or
standard of the god Vishnu and to record the “ defeat of the
Vahlikas,1 across the seven mouths of the Sindhu,” or Indus.
It is, to say the least of it, a curious coincidence, that eight
centuries afterwards men from that same Baktrian country
should have erected
a Jaya Stambha ten
times as tall as this
one, in the same
courtyard,to celebrate
their victory over the
descendants of those
Hindus who so long
before had expelled
their ancestors from
the country.
Immediately behind
the north-west corner
of the mosque stands
the tomb of Altamsh,
the founder. Though
small—being a room
29 ft. 6 in. square
inside, with walls 7^
ft. thick and doors
on the four sides—it
is one of the richest
examples of Hindu
art applied to
Muhammadan pur-
poses that Old Delhi
affords, and is ex-
tremely beautiful,
though the builders
still display a certain degree of inaptness in fitting the details
to their new purposes. The effect at present is injured by the
want of a roof, which has long since disappeared. In addition
to the beauty of its details it is interesting as being the oldest
tomb known to exist in India. He died A.D. 1235.2
374. Interior of a Tomb at Old Delhi. (From
a Sketch by the Author.)
1 Can these Vahlikas be the Indo-
Skythians by overthrowing whom the
Guptas must have risen to power ? In
Sanskrit literature, by Vahlikas the
people of Baktria or Balkh are usually
understood.
2 Carr Stephen’s ‘ Archaeology of
Delhi,’ pp. 74-75 ; Fanshawe’s ‘ Delhi
Past and Present,’ pp. 269, 270.
VOL. II.
O
209
Chap. III.
As the inscription informs us the pillar was dedicated to
Vishnu, there is little doubt that it originally supported a figure
of Garuda on the summit, which the Muhammadans of course
removed ; but the real object of its erection was as a dhwaja or
standard of the god Vishnu and to record the “ defeat of the
Vahlikas,1 across the seven mouths of the Sindhu,” or Indus.
It is, to say the least of it, a curious coincidence, that eight
centuries afterwards men from that same Baktrian country
should have erected
a Jaya Stambha ten
times as tall as this
one, in the same
courtyard,to celebrate
their victory over the
descendants of those
Hindus who so long
before had expelled
their ancestors from
the country.
Immediately behind
the north-west corner
of the mosque stands
the tomb of Altamsh,
the founder. Though
small—being a room
29 ft. 6 in. square
inside, with walls 7^
ft. thick and doors
on the four sides—it
is one of the richest
examples of Hindu
art applied to
Muhammadan pur-
poses that Old Delhi
affords, and is ex-
tremely beautiful,
though the builders
still display a certain degree of inaptness in fitting the details
to their new purposes. The effect at present is injured by the
want of a roof, which has long since disappeared. In addition
to the beauty of its details it is interesting as being the oldest
tomb known to exist in India. He died A.D. 1235.2
374. Interior of a Tomb at Old Delhi. (From
a Sketch by the Author.)
1 Can these Vahlikas be the Indo-
Skythians by overthrowing whom the
Guptas must have risen to power ? In
Sanskrit literature, by Vahlikas the
people of Baktria or Balkh are usually
understood.
2 Carr Stephen’s ‘ Archaeology of
Delhi,’ pp. 74-75 ; Fanshawe’s ‘ Delhi
Past and Present,’ pp. 269, 270.
VOL. II.
O