Answer:

The Iron Pillar of Delhi is a NEARLY 24-ft. iron pillar that is located in the Quwwat-ul Mosque. It weighs more than 6 tons and is made of 98% wrought iron. It is thought that the Iron Pillar of Delhi was crafted using forge welding. The pillar is ornate, but hardly awe-inspiring, unless one knows just how long and mysterious the history of it is.

The Quwwat-ul Mosque dates back to 1192. It stands around the Iron Pillar in ruins, giving away its GREAT age. The mosque is a relic of an Islamic India, long-standing, but not long past. The Iron Pillar dates back even further than the ruined Islamic building, which surrounds it, but the iron pillar gives away nothing of its age on first glance. It was forged 1,600 years ago (sometime in the 300s) and moved to Delhi roughly 1,000 years ago, before the mosque was built. An iron pillar that old should have fallen to dust and blown away with the breeze long before now. Nonetheless, the Hindu-made pillar stands strong above the Islamic ruins that seem as though they will fall to dust long before it does.

According to a popular translation of the Brahmi script upon the Iron Pillar of Delhi, the pillar was made for a king (presumably of the Gupta period, given the era of its creation). It was also made to honor one of the most important Hindu GODS – Vishnu. Which Gupta king the Iron Pillar was made for is not made clear by the INSCRIPTION. However, it is widely believed that the king to which the inscription refers is Chandragupta Vikramaditya.

The purpose of the Iron Pillar of Delhi is one of its many mysteries. Some say it was a flagstaff made for the king mentioned in the inscription. Others say it was a sundial at its original home in Madhya Pradesh. Why it is no longer in Madhya Pradesh is yet another mystery. There is no evidence of who moved the pillar 1,000 years ago, how it was moved or even why it was moved. All we can say for certain about this aspect of the history of the pillar is that the mysterious Iron Pillar has been part of the Delhi landscape for a very long time.