Chor Minar
Chor Minar
General information
Town or cityNew Delhi
CountryIndia
Construction startedKhalji dynasty

Chor Minar or 'Tower of Thieves' is a 13th-century minaret with 225 holes,[1] situated just off Aurobindo Marg in the Hauz Khas area, in New Delhi.[2][3] The Chor Minar is nearly 700 to 800 years old.[4] it's also situated in narnaul Haryana near dhosi hills 120 km away from Delhi

History

It was built under the rule of Alauddin Khalji,[5] of the Khalji dynasty (1290–1320) in the thirteenth century.[6] Historians suggests that the Khalji king slaughtered a settlement of Mongol people, nearby, to stop them from joining with their brethren in another Mongol settlement in Delhi, the present day locality of 'Mongolpuri'.

During the raid of Ali Beg, Tartaq and Targhi (1305), 8,000 Mongol prisoners were executed and their heads displayed is the towers around Siri[7]

Purpose

According to local legends, it was a 'tower of beheading', where the severed heads of thieves were displayed on spear through its 225 holes, to act as a deterrent to thieves.[2][8] In case the heads exceeded the number of holes, the less important heads were piled in a pyramid outside the tower.

References

  1. ↑ Kharehra List of Monuments - Delhi, Archaeological Survey of India.
  2. 1 2 Chor Minar
  3. ↑ Delhi Monuments - Hauz Khas Archived 2011-06-29 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ "700 साल पहले दहशत थी इस मीनार की". Navbharat Times (in Hindi). Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  5. ↑ Chor Minar
  6. ↑ Chor Minar Info and images Archived 10 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.
  7. ↑ CHAPTER V Archived 11 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine 40. "Farishtah, I, 114-15; Barani, 320; Khazain, Habib, 28; Wassaf, IV, 526-27. The walls of the towers popularly known as Chor Minar in modern Hauz Khas Enclave are pierced with 225 holes. In medieval India apertures on the walls of towers were used by Muslims not only as windows but also to display heads of captured and executed prisoners. The custom was to cut off their heads and stick them into those holes, to be seen by everybody. During wars, only the heads of chiefs were displayed; those of common soldiers were simply piled into pyramids."
  8. ↑ "The Minars and Minarettes of India". Archived from the original on 29 November 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
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