234 DELHI CITY
Anang Pal, who seems to have come from Kanauj, ruled a petty
principality extending to Hansi on the north, the Ganges on the east,
and Agra on the south. His dynasty lasted just a century, until
1151, when it was supplanted by Visaldev or Bisaldeo, a Chauhan chief
of Ajmer. Bisaldeo's grandson, the famous Prithwi Rai or Rai Pithora,
ruled both Delhi and Ajmer, and built the city which bore his name at
the former place. The walls of this city may still be traced for a long
distance round the Kutb Minar. From Delhi Rai Pithora in i 191 led
his Hindu vassals and allies to defeat Muhammad of Ghor at TIRA-
WARI, but in the following year he met with a decisive overthrow at
that place. With his death the history of Hindu Delhi ends. In
1193 Kutb-ud-din, Muhammad's slave general, took Delhi ; and on his
master's death in 12o6 it became the capital of the Slave dynasty to
whom Old Delhi owes its grandest ruins. Kutb-ud-din's mosque was
commenced, according to the inscription on its entrance archway,
immediately after the capture of the city in 1193. It was completed
in three; years, and enlarged during the reign of Altamsh, son-in-law
of the founder, and the greatest monarch of the line. This mosque
consists of an ouier and inner courtyard, the latter surrounded by an
exquisite colonnade, whose richly decorated shafts have been torn from
the precincts of Hindu temples. Originally a thick coat of plaster
concealed from the believer's eyes the profuse idolatrous ornamen-
tations ; but the stucco has now fallen away, revealing the delicate
workmanship of the Hindu artists in all its pristine beauty. Eleven
magnificent arches close its western facade, Muhammadan in outline
and design, but carried out in detail by Hindu workmen, as the
intricate lace-work which covers every portion of the arcade sufficiently
bears witness. Ibn Batuta, the Moorish traveller, who was a magistrate
in Delhi and saw the mosque about 150 years after its erection,
describes it as unequalled for either beauty or extent. The Kutb
Minar, another celebrated monument of the great Slave king, stands
in the south-east corner of the outer courtyard of the mosque. It rises
to a height of 238 feet, tapering gracefully from a diameter of 47 feet
at the base to nearly 9 feet at the summit. The shaft consists of five
storeys, enclosing a spiral staircase, and was crowned by a now broken
cupola, which fell during an earthquake in 1803. The original purpose
of the minaret was doubtless as a muazzin's tower, whence the call
to morning and evening prayer might be heard throughout the whole
city. The site chosen for the mosque was that already occupied by
the iron pillar, which forms the central ornament of the inner court-
yard. Around in every direction spreads a heap of splendid ruins,
the most important of which are the tomb of Altamsh and the, un-
finished minaret of Ala-ud-din, commenced in 13".
During the reign of the Slave kings, a queen, for the only time in its
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