Chapter COOMKEE to COOTUB of C by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

COOSUMBA, s. H. kusum, kusumbha, Safflower, q.v. But the name is applied in Rajputana and Guzerat to the tincture of opium, which is used freely by Rajputs and others in those territories; also (according to Shakespear) to an infusion of Bang (q.v.). [1823.—“Several of the Rajpoot Princes West of the Chumbul seldom hold a Durbar without presenting a mixture of liquid opium, or, as it is termed, ‘kusoombah,’ to all present. The minister washes his hands in a vessel placed before the Rawul, after which some liquid opium is poured into the palm of his right hand. The first in rank who may be present then approaches and drinks the liquid.”—Malcolm, Mem. of Central India, 2d ed. ii. 146, note.]

COOTUB, THE, n.p. The Kutb Minar, near Delhi, one of the most remarkable of Indian architectural antiquities, is commonly so called by Europeans. It forms the minaret of the Great Mosque, now long in ruins, which Kutb-uddin Ibak founded A.D. 1191, immediately after the capture of Delhi, and which was built out of the materials of numerous Hindu temples, as is still manifest. According to the elaborate investigation of Gen. A. Cunningham [Arch. Rep. i. 189 seqq.] , the magnificent Minar was begun by Kutb-uddin Ibak about 1200, and complete d by his successor Shamsu ddin Iyaltimish about 1220. The tower has undergone, in its upper part, various restorations. The height as it now stands is 238 feet 1 inch. The traditional name of the tower no doubt had reference to the name of its founder, but also there may have been a reference to the contemporary Saint, Kutb-uddin Ushi, whose tomb is close by; and perhaps also to the meaning of the name Kutb-uddin, ‘The Pole or Axle of the Faith,’ as appropriate to such a structure.

c. 1330.—“Attached to the mosque (of Delhi) is a tower for the call to prayer which has no equal in the whole world. It is built of red stone, with about 360 steps. It is not square, but has a great number of angles, is very massive at the base, and very lofty, equalling the Pharos of Alexandria.”—Abulfeda, in Gildemeister, 190.

c. 1340.—“In the northern court of the mosque stands the minaret (al-sauma’a), which is without a parallel in all the countries of I slam.…It is of surpassing height; the pinnacle is of milk-white marble, and the globes which decorate it are of pure gold. The aperture of the staircase is so wide that elephants can ascend, and a person on whom I could rely told me that when the minaret was a-building, he saw an elephant ascend to the very top with a load of stones.”—Ibn Batuta, iii. 151.

The latter half of the last quotation is fiction.

1663.—“At two Leagues off the City on Agra’s side, in a place by the Mahumetans called Koja Kotubeddine, there is a very ancient Edifice which hath been a Temple of Idols.…”—Bernier, E.T. 91.

It is evident from this that Bernier had not then visited the Kutb. (Constable in his tr. reads “Koia Kotub-eddine,” by which he understands Koh-i-Kutab-uddin, the hill or eminence of the Saint, p. 283.]

1825.—“I will only observe that the Cuttab Minar…is really the finest tower I have ever seen, and must, when its spire was complete, have been still more beautiful.”—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 308.