The pillars are some 30 feet high gorgeously carved either with exquisite designs up to a height of about 26 feet, thereafter adorned with delicate figurines. And there are other pillars beyond the covered edifice, which looks like a pavilion in splendid stone. There are 70 of them under three roofs, which meet and appear to be one integrated whole. The triple temples were so attractive that the desecrator chose to retain all, or most of the pillars. The earlier atrocities were by Mahmud Ghazni, who raided but did not stay back to rule. The Jhopra is among the first in a series of temple desecrations perpetrated by foreign rulers of India. He asked Qutbuddin Aibak, his slave general, to have the needful done in 60 hours’ time so that he could offer prayers in the new masjid on his way back. He was so awed by the temples that he wanted them destroyed and replaced instantly. After the second battle of Tarain in 1192 AD, in which Shahabuddin Muhammad Ghauri defeated and killed Prithviraj Chanhan, the victor passed through Ajmer. So called, because the triple or three temples were converted into a masjid over only two and a half days. The complex is, for the last 800 years, popularly known as “Adhai Din Ka Jhopra” (the shed of two and a half days).
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