¹For more on Indian music, see The First Spring, Part XI, Chapter 1

²This is a Gupta age iron pillar, which the builders of the mosque had the good sense not to tamper with. Most remarkably, the pillar has not rusted even after the passage of some sixteen centuries of exposure to weather.

The height of the pillar is 7.21 metres, of which 1.12 metre is below ground; its diameter at the bottom is 420 millimetres, and it tapers to 306 millimetres at the top. Its weight is estimated to be over six tons.

There is a common belief that anyone who can encircle the pillar with his arms while standing with his back to it and makes a wish, will have that wish granted.

³See Part VIII, Chapter 1, for Mughal chronicler Lahauri’s description of the fort.

⁴See also Part V, Chapter 4