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About the Kutub Minar itself there is overwhelming proof that it was
a Hindu tower existing hundreds of years before Kutubuddin and therefore
it is wrong to ascribe the tower to Kutubuddin.
The township adjoining the Kutub Minar is known as Mehrauli. That is
a Sanskrit word Mihira-awali. It signifies the town- ship where the well
known astronomer Mihira of Vikramaditya's court lived along with his helpers, Mathematicians and technicians. They used the so-called Kutub tower as
an observation post for astronomical study. Around the tower were pavilions
dedicated to the 27 constellations of the Hindu Zodiac.
Kutubuddin has left us an inscription that he destroyed these pavilions.
But he has not said that he raised any tower. The ravaged temple was renamed
as Kuwat-ul-Islam mosque.
Stones dislodged from the so-called Kutub Minar have Hindu images on
one side with Arabic lettering on the other. Those stones have now been
removed to the Museum. They clearly show that Muslim invaders used to remove
the stone- dressing of Hindu buildings, turn the stones inside out to hide
the image facial and inscribe Arabic lettering on the new frontage.
Bits of Sanskrit inscriptions can still be deciphered in the premises
on numerous pillars and walls. Numerous images still adorn the cornices
though disfigured.
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