At this complex, which is 15km south of New Delhi, there is the tall, 72.5m (240 ft) Qutb Minar Victory Tower. Construction began on the tower in 1199 after the ex-slave Turkish Qutb-ud-din-Aibak’s army defeated the last Hindu Rajput kingdom in Delhi. Qutb-ud-din made his city at Lal Kot, the site of an old Rajput city. Qutb-ud-din started building the impressive red sandstone Qutb Minar Tower to mark his victories in Northern India.
It is five storeys high and each storey has a balcony. The first three storeys are made of red sandstone, and the fourth and fifth are made of marble and sandstone. It has a 15m diameter base but is only 2.5m at the top. Only the first storey was completed by Qutb-ud-din Aibak’s death. His son-in-law, Iltutmish, completed up to the fourth storey. Firoz Shah Tughluq repaired damage caused by lightning in 1368, then added a fifth storey and a cupola. The fifth-storey cupola was damaged by an earthquake in 1803, and British Major Robert Smith replaced it in 1829. The Mughal-style cupola put on by Smith was removed because it did not fit the rest of the tower. It has since been placed in the garden here.
One of the inscriptions on the tower says, “The tower was built to cast the shadow of God over both West and East.” Most of the inscriptions on the tower are passages from the Koran. The tower is also a minaret for the Quwwat-ul-Islam Masjid. Visitors are no longer permitted to climb the tower since a group of school children were trampled to death during a power failure in 1981.
North of the Qutb Minar is the Quwwat-ul-Islam Masjid (“Might of Islam Mosque”), the oldest mosque in India. Construction was begun in 1192 and completed in 1198. Over the next two centuries, several additions were made. It was built from the remains of twenty-seven Hindu and Jain temples, all of which were destroyed by Qutb-ud-din Aibak. Pillars from these temples support the east end section of the mosque. Iltutmish built the cloistered courtyard between 1210 and 1220. The impressive Alai Darwaza gateway was built by Ala-ud-din in 1310.
In the mosque’s courtyard there is an interesting, 7m high (24 ft), 98% pure Iron Pillar (Gupta Pillar). A six-line Sanskrit inscription says that it had been placed originally in a Vishnu temple, maybe in Bihar in the late fourth century. It is believed that Anangpal, the founder of Lal Kot, had this pillar brought here. After 1,500 years, the pillar has not rusted. Scientists cannot understand how 1,500 years ago there could have been the technology to cast such an exceptionally pure iron pillar. It is said that if you can encircle the pillar with your arms while standing with your back to the pillar, your wishes will be fulfilled.
North of the Qutb Minar is the Alai Minar, the beginnings of another tower, which the builders intended to be twice as high as the Qutb Minar. It was never finished and only the first storey (24.5m) was built. Northwest of the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque is the Tomb of Iltutmish, built in 1235. It was the first Muslim tomb in India, as Hindus cremate their dead. It is a mixture of Muslim and Indian architecture. It was once covered by a dome, which has since fallen.
In the southwest edge of the Quwwat-ul-Islam is Ala-ud-din-Khalji’s Tomb and Madrasa, a theological college. Southeast of the Alai Darwaza gateway, is the small Tomb of Muhammad Ali (also known as Imam Zamin), the Sufi saint. He came to India from Central Asia in the early 16th century, during the rule of Sikander Lodi (1488-1517).
The octagonal Tomb of Muhammad Quli Khan, one of Akbar’s courtiers, is 150m southeast of Qutb Minar. Charles Metcalfe, a resident at the Mughal Court, converted it and then lived in it. It is now in disrepair. West of the Qutb Minar outside the complex, in the Mehrauli village, is Adham Khan’s Tomb. He was a one of Akbar’s generals who was thrown off the walls of the Agra Fort on the order of the emperor after he murdered Atgah Khan, a favorite of Akbar.
The Jain Ahimsa Sthal and the interesting 4m statue of Mahavir are south of the enclosure.
This place is 14km southwest of Connaught Place, at the intersection of Mehrauli Badarpur Rd and Aurobindo Marg. To get here you can take the #505 bus from the Ajmeri Gate side of the New Delhi railway station, or from Janpath near the Janpath Hotel.

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