Explained | Qutub Minar Or Vishnu Stambh? The Controversy Over Construction Of The Monument

A few weeks ago, there were claims that the Qutub Minar was built over a cluster of temples, followed by a demand to rename it as Vishnu Stambha.

Visitors walk at the Qutub Minar archaeological complex after it was reopened for visitors (Source: AFP)

New Delhi: The Qutub Minar, an architectural marvel that attracts tourists from across the world, is at the centre of a dispute amid claims by Hindu groups that the World Heritage Site was built by Muslim invaders after destroying Hindu and Jain temples. India has always been the land of monuments and the construction of many of these monuments was done by different rulers who either invaded the land or were born here.

A few weeks ago, there were claims that the Qutub Minar was built over a cluster of temples, followed by a demand to rename it as Vishnu Stambha. 

There are many theories, ranging from the mosque being a temple to a ‘Surya Stambha’. However, the discovery of temple remains and idols of Hindu gods from the Qutub Minar complex does not seem that difficult or unexpected if one knows the history of the city and its monuments.

History Of Qutub Minar

The 72.5-metre high Qutub Minar is situated in Mehrauli, which is Delhi’s oldest fortified city. According to a paper, ‘The Qutub Minar Complex and the village of Mehrauli’, by historian Swapna Liddle, Mehrauli was built by Tomar Rajput ruler Anangpal in the middle of 11th century CE. Almost a century later, the fort was expanded by the Chauhan rulers, who replaced the Tomars. 

In the year 1192, the city was conquered by the forces of Muizzuddin Ghuri, who was the ruler of Ghazni in Afghanistan. After the victory, the king left Delhi in the hands of military slave general Qutubuddin Aibak.

After getting hold of the city, one of the first things Aibak did was to make a mosque for prayers. This is where the temples come into the picture. According to an inscription written on the lintel of the eastern gateway, “The materials of 27 temples, on each of which 2,000,000 Dehliwals (currency of that time) had been spent, were used in (the construction of) this mosque.”

Liddle explains that the “destruction” of these temples is more of the nature of dismantling, as pillar columns and capitals were taken out carefully to be used later in the construction of the mosque.

Some of the features of Lord Hanuman and other divine figures carved in the stones were defaced to conform to the Islamic prescription of idolatry. Liddle mentions that the work of dismantling the temples and putting together the mosque had been done by Indian builders.

These builders-workers and supervisors were the ones who originally built the temples through generations. Hence, they practised a lot of discretion when it came to deciding how the mosque would be made.

This explains the fact that mosques and other buildings carried the designs and inscriptions that the Indian builders were familiar with.

Since the decision-making power lay with the Indian builders, it can be a plausible explanation for how the Qutub mosque was given four rows of pillars on the eastern side while it is usually the western side that is prioritised in mosques.

The carving of a Kirti Mukha on the entrance, or other Hindu symbols on the Qibla are other examples of the discretion of Indian craftsmen who used symbols they were familiar with in general.

The Indian craftsmen also experimented with the things being brought by the new rulers — Arabic inscriptions made with lotus motifs, for example.

With the passage of time, such inscriptions were used in many other structures within the Qutub complex and outside it.
After the Qutub Minar was damaged in an earthquake in 1803, Major Robert Smith took over the project to renovate it. He made many changes to the original structure, which is very different from what was made earlier.

This is how Qutub Minar went through the passage of time from one hand of power to another. While the Mughal kings connected it to the place and the locals, British rulers overtook more areas around the place and made it exclusive for themselves. 
In Independent India, the Qutub Minar was open for all tourists initially, and people could climb up. But it has now been shut for more than 40 years. 

How Qutub Minar Got Its Name

All evidence suggest that work on the Qutub Minar began during the rule of Qutub-Uddin-Aibak, the general of King Ghurid Mohammad Ghori, a member of the Ghori dynasty. However, over the years, it was repaired and renovated by many rulers, including those of the Lodi dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, and the British.

While it is usually known that it got its name from Qutub-Uddin-Aibak, there is also a possibility that the minar got its name from Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, a Sunni Sufi saint from the 13th century.

The Construction And The Controversy

While the widely accepted builder of Qutub Minar is Qutub-Uddin-Aibak, there are also claims that the first storey of the minar was built by Prithviraj Chauhan. However, that is not generally accepted with exceptions, Swapna Liddle writes in her paper.

This has sparked the recent controversies of Hindu right-wing groups demanding Qutub Minar to be renamed Vishnu Stambh.  
In 2000, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal tried to perform a yajna inside the complex to "free" the entrapped Hindu deities owing to the material of Jain and Hindu temples used in the construction of the minar.

In 2022, BJP leader and Rashtrawadi Shiv Sena president Jai Bhagwan Goyal claimed the monument was built by the “great king Vikramaditya” but Mughal ruler Qutub-ud-din Aibak “claimed credit for it”. 

“When Qutab-ud-din Aibak came to India, he demolished Hindu and Jain temples and started calling it Qutub Minar. This is not Qutub Minar, it is Vishnu Stambh,” he said.

Following the calls for renaming the minar and recital of Hanuman Chalisa in the Qutub complex, as the row over monuments intensifies, the Archaeological Survey of India's (ASI) ex-Regional Director Dharamveer Sharma claimed that it was constructed by Raja Vikramaditya and not by Qutb al-Din Aibak, to study the direction of the sun.

"There is a 25-inch tilt in the tower of the Qutb Minar. It is because it was made to observe the sun and hence, on June 21, between the shifting of the solstice, the shadow will not fall on that area for at least half an hour. This is science and archaeological fact," he was quoted as saying in media reports.

While there is no proof of this claim as of now, the ASI has maintained that nothing should be changed in the complex. 
Meanwhile, a Delhi court is hearing a plea seeking restoration of 27 Hindu and Jain temples inside the Qutub Minar complex. The arguments in the matter concluded last month. On June 9, when a verdict was epected, the court deferred the matter for August 24, noting that a fresh application had been filed.