Chor Minar

Chor Minar
Chor Minar
	Chor Minar
General information
Town or city	New Delhi
Country	India
Construction started	Khalji 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]

It was built under the rule of Alauddin Khalji,[4] of the Khalji dynasty (1290–1320) in the thirteenth century.[5]

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][6] though some historian suggest 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]

References

Kharehra List of Monuments - Delhi, Archaeological Survey of India.
Chor Minar
Delhi Monuments - Hauz Khas Archived 2011-06-29 at the Wayback Machine
Chor Minar
Chor Minar Info and images Archived 10 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.
The Minars and Minarettes of India
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."

External links

Image of Chor Minar

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[1] Kharehra List of Monuments - Delhi, Archaeological Survey of India.

[wcities-2] Chor Minar

[3] Delhi Monuments - Hauz Khas Archived 2011-06-29 at the Wayback Machine

[4] Chor Minar

[5] Chor Minar Info and images Archived 10 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.

[6] The Minars and Minarettes of India

[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."