Any
student of Indian history, must have read about the last Hindu king to
sit upon throne of Delhi; Prithviraj Chauhan (1149-1192 CE). Except
for a short stint by king Hemu during sixteenth century, the throne
of Delhi was always in possession of either Mughals and Pashtuns
(Pathans) in the later periods. In 1191 King Prthviraj Chauhan had
defeated the Afghani general Shahabuddin Muhammad Ghori, in what is
known as the First Battle of Tarain and had got him captured. In a
strange decision, Prithviraj released Ghori and allowed him to go.
Taking full advantage of this unexpected gratitude, Ghauri attacked
Prithviraj for a second time the following year. In this battle known
as Second Battle of Tarain (1192), tables turned and Chauhan was
defeated and captured. Ghori did not the repeat the mistake of his
erstwhile captor and promptly executed Prithviraj Chauhan.
The
Ghorids were a native Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled during 897-
1215 CE from Ghor province in the center of Afghanistan and were
succeeded by the Ghaznavid Empire. King Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad came
to power when Ghorids were at Zenith of power. His loyal brother
Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad reconquered the city of Ghazni in 1173,
venturing out to India, he captured Multan in 1175 and Lahore in
1186. As mentioned above, he captured Delhi in 1192 defeating and
killing Prithviraj Chauhan though there is some confusion about name
of Muhammad Ghori. Whether it was Shahabuddin or Mu'izz al-Din.
A
British Archeologist and Director of the British Institute of Afghan
Studies; Dr. Ralph Pinder-Wilson, carried out a major study in the
1970s on Minarets in Afghanistan, which were believed to be erected
by Afghans, to commemorate major battlefield victories. For his
study, he chose two minarets, one at Jam and other at Ghajni in
Afghanistan. After his detailed study, he came out with a conclusion
about the Jam minaret, that directly relates to India. The Jam
minaret was built to commemorate the victory of Mu'izz ad-Din,
Ghiyath ud-Din's brother, over Prithviraj Chauhan, which had allowed
for the spreading of Islam in Hindustan. The Arabic inscription on
this minaret is unclear - it could read either read as 1193/4 or
1174/5. It could therefore commemorate the victory of the Ghurid
capture of Multan or Delhi. However Dr. Ralph Pinder-Wilson's
conclusion appears to be more logical as victory over Prithviraj
Chauhan was of far greater consequence.
I
therefore feel that the Jam minaret is an important historical
milestone for India because it marks the advent of firm Muslim rule
over the subcontinent that lasted several centuries afterwords. What
is surprising is that even after so many centuries, this historical monument still stands tall, in
spite of inhospitable climate, frightening political instability and
war-torn reality of Afghanistan.
The
Jam minaret is located in Afghanistan’s Shahrak district on the
banks of Hari river at a place where it meets river Jam around 215 km
east of Herat. The minaret consist of four tapering cylindrical
shafts stacked on top of each other, rising from an octagonal base
and constructed of fired brick bonded with lime mortar. The exterior
of the minaret is completely covered with geometric decoration in
relief enhanced with a Kufic inscription in turquoise tiles. One can
climb up the minaret through a set of double spiral stairs that run
from the octagonal base to the circular top, winding around each
other like a DNA double-helix. The stairs end in an open chamber,
from where you can look out over the confluence of the rivers. A
second staircase continues from here up to the lantern gallery.
Soring in the sky to the height of 65 meters, it is the second
tallest minaret in world after Delhi's famous Kutub Minar, again
built during Ghorid rule over Delhi.
Wikipedia
says that the Minaret’s existence was little known outside of
Afghanistan until Sir Thomas Holdich reported it in 1886 while
working for the Afghan Boundary Commission. It came to world
attention, in 1957 through the work of the French archaeologists
André Maricq and Gaston Wiet. Later, Werner Herberg conducted
limited surveys around the site in the 1970s and Ralph Pinder-Wilson
completed his major study of the site in the 1970s before the Soviet
invasion of 1979 once again cut off outside access. The Jam minaret
became Afghanistan's first UNESCO World Heritage site in 2002.
The
Jam minaret belongs to a group of around 60 minarets and towers built
between the 11th and the 13th centuries in Central Asia, Iran and
Afghanistan. The minaret was once connected to a great mosque along
the riverbank, and evidence of the building and a massive courtyard
have also been found near the site. The archaeological landscape
around Jam also includes the ruins of a 'palace', fortifications, a
pottery kiln and a Jewish cemetery, and has been suggested to be the
remains of the lost city of Turquoise Mountain.
In
spite of the fame, things are not going well for the Jam minaret.
Afghan officials warn that it is actually in danger of collapse. They
say that 20-30% of the decorative brick work had fallen off and the
minaret is actually leaning like tower of Pisa. The biggest threat to
the Jam minaret is being caused by its position in a river valley
among high mountains. Erosion of the nearby river bank and illegal
excavations are considered the biggest threats to its future.
Flooding of the nearby Hari-Rud river has damaged the base of the
minaret.
Afghans
have built a new supporting wall carried out other stabilisation,,
but it is not enough to secure the site. For India, Jam minaret
remains an important historical landmark, though very few Indians
must have visited it. It is hoped that Afghan government finds some
way to preserve the monument and would not allow it to go the way of
bamiyan Buddhas, destroyed by Taliban.
17th
September 2014
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