Embodying the Heavens: The Muqarnas of Qutb Minar

A look at the towering Qutb Minar surging upwards, one storey at a time, shows that its builders aimed for nothing less than the sky. While the impressive height is awe-inspiring, the constitutive design elements are equally captivating. Exploring the motives and philosophy behind this epic monument is a rewarding experience.

A View of the Muqarnas of Qutb Minar. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Qutub Minar is one of the tallest and most architecturally unique monuments in the world. As our eyes travel over the exquisitely designed exterior of the structure, they are interrupted by beautifully carved balconies, added after every storey of the tower. What immediately draws one’s attention here are the exquisitely carved undersides of the balconies, depicting a complex and repeating ornamental pattern. This design, an iconic one in the architecture of the Islamic world, is known as muqarnas, or stalactite vaulting.

Muqarnas first came to be widely used in the Islamic world around the 12th century. This included Central Asia, North Africa, the Mediterranean, and other regions with Islamic influence. Muqarnas were used for both functional and ornamental purposes, i.e., to lend strength to a structure and also to provide ornamentation in zones of transition between two different structural parts. While the practice of stalactite vaulting has been widely used in the architecture of the Islamic world, it is surprisingly rare in India. The muqarnas of the Qutb Minar are one of a kind and display a harmonious amalgamation of Islamic ideas and indigenous styles.

The muqarnas of the Qutb Minar are represented by a cluster of miniature arches laid out adjacent to one another in a honey-combing pattern and separated from each other by brackets. The stalactites help in the uniform distribution of the weight of the structure. They also provide an element of visual transition to dissolve the effect of interruption added by the balconies to the Minar.

A Close View of the Miniature Arches and Brackets. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Qutb Minar was commissioned by Outb-ud-din Aibek, the general of Muhammad Ghuri, to mark his decisive victory over Prithviraj Chauhan, the Tomar king of Delhi, in 1192 CE. While the first storey was commissioned by Aibek, the second and third stories were added by Sultan Iltutmish, and ultimately a fourth and a fifth storey were added by Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq. The Minar, apart from serving as a mazinah, or a place from which the call to prayer is sounded, was also a tower of victory. This is evident from the language of victory inscribed on the Minar: its imposing structure and the use of raw materials from the demolished temples on the site. The tower, visible from miles around, was built to awe, a proclamation of the might and power of the new rulers. The metaphor of victory was not only present in the towering stature of the Minar but also permeated its detailing. The muqarnas symbolise a philosophy that is consistent with the dominant themes of victory and transcendence.

Yasser Tabbaa, a prominent scholar in Islamic art, suggests that the use of muqarnas in the architecture of the Islamic world is linked to the influence of a distinct philosophy. This was the atomic-occasionalist view of reality that gained popularity in the region around the 10th and 11th centuries. According to this orthodox Islamic philosophy about the nature of reality, every substance in this world is composed of atoms and accidents. The atoms represent the essential individual units of the substance, and accidents are the occasional elements that lend a specific quality to the substance. The theory aims to highlight the incomparable power of God in formulating this sophisticated scheme of creation.

A View of the Towering Minar and the Surrounding Structures. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

The overwhelming stature of the Qutub Minar and its constitutive design elements also seem consistent with this philosophy. The muqarnas, in their complex and repeating nature, are intended to be a metaphor for infinity. The Minar, aiming for the endless sky, was designed to convey the glory of the transcendent God and, by extension, of the patron ruler. The complexity of the repetitive geometric pattern of the stalactites symbolically reinforced the infinite power and superiority of the new rulers of Hindustan.

While the rulers are long gone, the muqarnas continue to bedazzle, confound, and awe visitors even today. In the words of Monica Juneja (well-known scholar of art history): “The Turks wanted to create a symbol of power and stability… But the…sculptor has also put his stamp on it. You can have the power, he seems to have said, but I shall so suffuse it with beauty that those who see it will know that beauty is the only power that endures.”