The Qutub Complex at sunset
A popular UNESCO world heritage site in the Mehrauli area of Delhi, Qutub Minar is a 73-meter tall minaret made up of bricks. Its construction, dating back to 1192, was started by Qutub-Ud-Din-Aibak who had founded the Delhi Sultanate. Inspired by the Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan, the Qutub Minar was a source of inspiration for many minarets built after it like the Chand Minar in Daulatabad, Maharashtra.
On my adventures through Delhi, this location was my final destination. Having pushed through some ridiculously congested streets of Chandni Chowk, the Minar was a wide open space which I could navigate around without the fear of being pick-pocketed or rammed from every direction. Miles from the tremor and the hustle of the unstoppable crowd, Qutub Minar was like a weekend getaway to some hill station without the actual hills.
The Qutub complex was huge, most of it in undeniable ruins. Stories have arisen claiming that the Qutub Minar was built over a location which at a time was home to 27 Hindu and Jain temples. These temples were destroyed by the Muslim invaders for stone and raw materials. Eventually, they would use the materials gathered to build mosques and other religious places important to Islam. The Qutub is one such beautiful tribute to the Muslim faith coming to existence due to the invaders.