DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27191#0301
Chap. I.
KASHMIRl TEMPLES
255
commenced by some nameless Hindus, in honour of .Siva,
during the tolerant reign of Jahangir, and that the building
was stopped at the date engraved on the staircase, A.H. 1069
(a.D. 1659), the first year of the reign of the bigot Aurangzeb.
It was then unfinisned, and has consequently remained a ruin
ever since, which may give it an ancient look, but not such as to
justify any one putting it 1879 years before what seems to be
its true date.
If we may thus get rid of these two anomalous and
exceptional examples, the history of all the remaining temples
in the valley is more than usually homogeneous and easily
intelligible. The date of the principal example—the temple at
Martand—is hardly doubtful (A.D. 750); and of the others,
some may be slightly older, but none can be carried further
back than the reign of Ranaditya, in the 6th century, if the
temple founded by him at Simharotsika still exist.1 Nor can
any one be brought down below, say 1000, which is the latest
date we can possibly assign to that of Payer.2 Between these
dates, with a very little local knowledge, the whole might easily
be arranged. Such a classification is, however, by no means
necessary at present. The style during these six centuries is so
uniform that it may be taken as one, for the purposes of a
general history.
Temples.
Before proceeding to speak of the temples themselves, it
may add to the clearness of what follows if we first explain
what the peculiarities of the style are. This we are able to
do from a small model in stone of a Kashmtri temple
(Woodcut No. 141), which was drawn by General Cunning-
ham; such miniature temples being common throughout India,
and copies of their larger prototypes.
The temple in this instance is surmounted by four roofs
(in the built examples, so far as they are known, there are
only two or three), which are obviously copied from the
usual wooden roofs common to most buildings in Kashmir,
where the upper pyramid covers the central part of the
building, and the lower a verandah, separated from the centre
either by walls or merely by a range of pillars.3 In the
1 Stein’s ‘ Rajatarangini,’ bk. iii. v.
462, and note ; also noteonvv. 453-454.
2 Vigne regarded this temple as more
modern than any of the oihers, whilst
Cunningham ascribed it to the end of the
5th century. Vigne called the village
Payech, which has been followed by
subsequent writers; the real name is
Payer—it is in the pargana of Aavur.—
Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 473.
3 See drawing of mosque by Vigne,
vol. i. p. 269; and also ‘Journal of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. xvii.
(1848) pt. ii. p. 253, containing General
KASHMIRl TEMPLES
255
commenced by some nameless Hindus, in honour of .Siva,
during the tolerant reign of Jahangir, and that the building
was stopped at the date engraved on the staircase, A.H. 1069
(a.D. 1659), the first year of the reign of the bigot Aurangzeb.
It was then unfinisned, and has consequently remained a ruin
ever since, which may give it an ancient look, but not such as to
justify any one putting it 1879 years before what seems to be
its true date.
If we may thus get rid of these two anomalous and
exceptional examples, the history of all the remaining temples
in the valley is more than usually homogeneous and easily
intelligible. The date of the principal example—the temple at
Martand—is hardly doubtful (A.D. 750); and of the others,
some may be slightly older, but none can be carried further
back than the reign of Ranaditya, in the 6th century, if the
temple founded by him at Simharotsika still exist.1 Nor can
any one be brought down below, say 1000, which is the latest
date we can possibly assign to that of Payer.2 Between these
dates, with a very little local knowledge, the whole might easily
be arranged. Such a classification is, however, by no means
necessary at present. The style during these six centuries is so
uniform that it may be taken as one, for the purposes of a
general history.
Temples.
Before proceeding to speak of the temples themselves, it
may add to the clearness of what follows if we first explain
what the peculiarities of the style are. This we are able to
do from a small model in stone of a Kashmtri temple
(Woodcut No. 141), which was drawn by General Cunning-
ham; such miniature temples being common throughout India,
and copies of their larger prototypes.
The temple in this instance is surmounted by four roofs
(in the built examples, so far as they are known, there are
only two or three), which are obviously copied from the
usual wooden roofs common to most buildings in Kashmir,
where the upper pyramid covers the central part of the
building, and the lower a verandah, separated from the centre
either by walls or merely by a range of pillars.3 In the
1 Stein’s ‘ Rajatarangini,’ bk. iii. v.
462, and note ; also noteonvv. 453-454.
2 Vigne regarded this temple as more
modern than any of the oihers, whilst
Cunningham ascribed it to the end of the
5th century. Vigne called the village
Payech, which has been followed by
subsequent writers; the real name is
Payer—it is in the pargana of Aavur.—
Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 473.
3 See drawing of mosque by Vigne,
vol. i. p. 269; and also ‘Journal of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. xvii.
(1848) pt. ii. p. 253, containing General