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The Iron
Pillar in the courtyard bears an inscription in
Sanskrit in Brahmi script of fourth century AD.
According to which the pillar was set up as a Vishnudhvaja (standard of god Vishnu) on the
hill known as Vishnupada in memory of a mighty
king named Chandra.
A deep socket
on the top of the ornate capital indicates that
probably an image of Garuda was fixed into it.
The tomb of
Iltutmish (AD 1211-36) was built in AD 1235.
It
is a plain square chamber of red sandstone,
profusely carved with inscriptions, geometrical
and arabesque patterns in Saracenic tradition on
the entrances and the whole of interior. Some of
the motifs viz., the wheel, tassel etc., are
reminiscent of Hindu designs.
Ala'i-Darwaza,
the southern gateway of the Quwwat-ul-Islam
mosque was constructed by Alau'd-Din Khalji in
AH 710 (AD 1311) as recorded in the inscriptions
engraved on it.
This is the first building
employing Islamic principles of construction and
ornamentation.
AJANTA CAVES, AURANGABAD
US$ 5 per person
The
caves including the unfinished ones are thirty
in number, of which five (9, 10, 19, 26 and 29)
are chaitya-grihas and the rest are sangharamas
or viharas (monasteries).
After centuries of
oblivion, these caves were discovered in AD
1819. They fall into two distinct phases with a
break of nearly four centuries between them.
All
the caves of the earlier phase date between 2nd
century BC-AD.
The
caves of the second phase were excavated during
the supremacy of the Vakatakas and Guptas.
According to inscriptions, Varahadev, the
minister of the Vakataka king, Harishena
(c.475-500 AD), dedicated Cave 16 to the
Buddhist sangha while Cave 17 was the gift of
the prince a feudatory.
An inscription records
that Buddha image in Cave 4 was the gift of some Abhayanandi who hailed from Mathura.
A
few paintings which survive on the walls of
Caves 9 and 10 go back to the 2nd century BC-AD.
The second group of the paintings started in
about the fifth century AD.
The second group of
the paintings started in about the fifth century
AD and continued for the next two centuries as
noticeable in later caves.
The themes are
intensely religious in tone and centre round
Buddha, Bodhisattvas, incidents from the life of
Buddha and the Jatakas.
The paintings are
executed on a ground of mud-plaster in the
tempera technique.
ELLORA CAVES, AURANGABAD
US$ 5 per person
The
magnificent group of rock-cut shrines of Ellora,
representing three different faiths, Buddhist,
Brahmanical and Jaina were excavated during the
period from 5th to the 13th century AD.
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