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The small village of Hashtsal lies at the end of the narrow
approach road from its junction with Delhi-Najafgarh road, 17-km from
Delhi, on the bank of a lake-a vast depression, which
gets filled with water during the rains.
Inside the village is a three-storeyed brick-built tapering minar, 17-m
high, faced with red stone, with a narrow staircase leading to its top. It
rises from a two-tiered platform, the lower one square and the upper one
octagonal. The lower half of its first storey is twelve-side, the
remaining height being provided alternatively with angular and
semi-circular flutings as in the third storey of the Qutub Minar.
About 100m to its northwest are the remains of a double-storeyed
pavilion, called 'Hathi-Khana' (elephant-stable). It is believed that Shah
Jahan built the pavilion as a hunting lodge. The minar may have been
intended by him to be used as a shooting-tower.