Chor Minar

This early fourteenth-century tower in the Hauz Khas area is pierced by rows of holes and takes its name, meaning tower of thieves, from a grim tradition that severed heads of criminals or enemies were once displayed in its openings. Attributed to the Khalji sultans, the tapering cylindrical structure rises from a raised platform now surrounded by a residential neighbourhood. Its unusual perforated form makes it one of the more macabre small monuments of the medieval city, marooned within a modern colony.