Page:Younghusband - Kashmir.pdf/103

 PARIHASAPURA 69

on which the city was built; and we know from records that it was built by the same great king Lalataditya, who erected the temple of Martand in the eighth century.

And Parihasapura, like Martand, has been set off to the greatest advantage by natural scenery. This Kashmir king must indeed have been worthy of the beautiful country which he ruled. In his time the Sind and Jhelum rivers met, not at Shadipur as now, but at the edge of the karewa on which Lalataditya built his city. And from the plateau views could be obtained right up the Sind valley to Haramukh and the craggy mountain peaks which bound it on either side; far up and down the main valley, over the fields of emerald rice or golden mustard, or blue linseed; over the numerous hamlets hidden in clumps of chenar and willow, mulberry and walnut ; over also the glisten- ing reaches of*the Jhelum River; to the snowy ranges which, at a distance far enough away not to dwarf or overpower the city, encircled it on every side. No temple was ever built on a finer site than Martand, and no city was ever set in more lovely surroundings than Parihasapura.

According to a passage in the Rajatarangini

the king Lalataditya erected five large buildings: 5a