Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/299

 CHAP. I. KASHMIRI 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 unfinished, 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 Kashmiri 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 note on vv. 453-454. 2 Vigne regarded this temple as more modern than any of the others, 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 Savur. 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