Until the year 1900, every local knew that the temple located within Qutub Complex was called Rao Petarah's Temple. Even a photograph taken by Dr. John Murray in 1858 is captioned as Rao Petarah's Temple, Delhi. The Quwwat al-Islam was constructed by destroying the Hindu Temples, pillars of which were used as part of the mosque. Pillars from the destroyed temples were reused and the Hindu images were plastered over with geometric designs which eventually fell off to reveal their true hindu origins.
Indeed it is a long forgotten hindu temple which was converted into a mosque and even now retains hindu architecture.
Below are some photographs of the Rao Petarah's Temple.
At Qutub minar
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