Tag: History

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History of Jammu State

Extraction complete

History of Jammu State

by
J. Hutchison and J.Ph.Vogel
Journal of the Panjab Historical Society
Volume 8, No.2
1921
“As already mentioned the ancient name of the State was Durgara, as found on two Chamba copper plate deeds, and of this name the terms Durgar and Dogra, in common use at the present time, are derivations. Till the discovery of the copper plates several other derivations were assigned for the origin of the name. One of these was Dugarta or Dvigarta, that is, “the tract between two rivers,” viz., the Ravi and Chinab – in analogy with  Trigarta or Kangra. By some the name was supposed to refer to the two sacred lakes of Saroin Sar and Man Sar, and the country around them. These derivations of the name must now be regarded purely fanciful. The name Durgara is probably a tribal designation, like Gurgara, the original of the modern “Gujar”. The names Durgar and Dogra are now applied to the whole area in the outer hills between the Ravi and Chinab, but this use of the terms is probably of recent origin, and date only from the time when the tract came under the supremacy of Jammu.
The chronology of Jammu is a blank down to the early part of the tenth century, when it is referred to under the name of Durgara. This reference establishes the fact that the State then existed and was ruled by its own chief, called the ” lord of Durgara.” At a considerably later date the references in the Rajatarangini to two Rajas of Babbapura, if accepted as applying to Jammu, enable us to fix approximately the subsequent reigns. We may assume that Vajradhara, who was in power in A.D. 1114-18, succeeded about A.D. 1110, and the earliest authentic date after this is that of Raja Parasram Dev (A.D. 1589). Between these dates twenty Rajas ruled the State, giving an average reign of about twenty-five years. There may have been omissions of names in copying the Vansavali which would reduce this average, indeed one such name is found in the Akbarnamah. Again, from A.D. 1589 to A.D. 1812 there were twelve reigns, giving an average of nearly twenty years. These averages are in keeping with those of many other hill States.
As in other parts of the hills, Jammu State was probably preceded by a long period of government by petty chiefs, called Ranas and Thakurs. The traditions relating to this Thakurain period, as it is called, are less definite to the west than to the east of the Ravi, but in the historical records of most of the States in the Jammu area there are fairly clear evidences of such a political condition. These traditions, however, are least definite in the oldest States, having probably passed into oblivion through lapse of time. The foundation of some of the States is distinctly associated with the conquest of one or more of these petty barons. There are no references to the Ranas in the Jammu Vansavali, and it is unusual to find such references in the case of very ancient States, but in the folklore of the people traditions of the ancient polity are common.We may therefore assume that for many centuries after Jammu State was founded the outlying portions, which at a later period became separate and independent States, were under the rule of Ranas and Thakurs, possibly with a loose allegiance to Durgara.
The Dogra royal line trace their descent from Kus, the second son of Rama, and came originally, it is said, from Ayodhya. Like Chamba and many other royal families of the hills, they belong to the Surajbansi race and the clan name is Jamwal. Probably there was an older designation which has been forgotten.
The Manhas Rajputs, a large agricultural tribe found along the foot of the outer hills between the Ravi and the Jehlam, claim to be descended from the same ancestor as the Jammu royal clan. The tradition among them is that from an early period some of the younger members of the royal clan took to agriculture, and as following the plough is opposed to Rajput sentiment, they thereby became degraded, and are looked down upon by those who adhere to ancient custom. Most of the Manhas, it is said, can trace their descent from chief of the various States under different offshoots of the ‘Jamwal royal clan. It is improbable that Jamwal was the original name of the tribe as suggested by Ibbetson. The name can date only from the time when Jammu became the capital and it is applied only to the royal clan and its offshoots.
The early history of the State is lost in the mists of the past and even common tradition is silent. The first Raja, named Agnibaran, is said to have been a brother or kinsman of the Raja of Ayudhya. He came up into the Punjab by way of Nagarkot (Kangra), and after crossing the Ravi settled at Parol near Kathua, opposite to Madhopur in the Gurdaspur District. According to the records this, if authentic, must have been at a very early period. His son, Vayusrava, added to his territory the country of the outer hills as far west as the Jammu Tawi. Four other Rajas followed in succession and the fifth was Agnigarbh, who had eighteen sons, of whom the two oldest were Bahu-lochan and Jambu-lochan. Bahu-lochan succeeded his father and founded the town and fort of Bahu, on the left bank of the Tawi, opposite Jammu, and made it his capital. In seeking to extend his territories towards the plains he fell in battle with Chandarhas, then Raja of the Punjab (Madhyadesa) whose capital was probably at Sialkot. The reference is interesting and probably historical. The war with Chandarhas doubtless was the outcome of an attempt on the part of the hill chief to enlarge the State boundaries towards the plains. Tradition affirms that in former times the territory extended much farther to the south than now, and the Raja of Sialkot would naturally oppose such encroachments on his borders.
Sialkot has been identified with the ancient Sakala, the Sagala of Buddhist literature, which is thus proved to be one of the oldest cities in the Punjab. In very ancient times it was the capital of the Madras who are known in the later Vedic period, and Sakaladvipa or ” the island of Sakala ” was the ancient name of the doab between the rivers Chandrabhaga (Chenab) and Iravati (Ravi). In somewhat later times (c. B.C. 200) Sakala was the capital of the later Graeco-Indian kings of the house of Euthymedus, who ruled the Eastern Punjab, and it was the residence of Alenander who has been identified with king Melinda, who is known from the Buddist treatise called “The Questions of Melinda.” His date was about B.C. 150. At a still later period Sakala was the capital of Salavahana, whose son, Rasalu, is the great hero of all Punjab tradition, and after the invasion of the Hunas (Huns) in the latter part of the fifth century A.D. it became the capital of Toramana and his son Mihirakula, who ruled over the Punjab and also probably over Kashmir. As Jammu is only thirty miles from Sialkot, and the boundary even at the present time is within seven miles of the latter place, it is evident that frequent disputes must have arisen in former times, similar to that referred to in the Vansavali.
Jambu-lochan followed and continued the war with Chandar-has in which the latter was slain. He is then said to have founded the town of Jammu. The story is thus related: Jambu-lochan on becoming Raja wished to found another town as ^ his capital and name it after himself. With this in view he went out hunting one day accompanied by his officials, and crossing the Tawi he saw in the jungle a deer and a tiger drinking at the same tank. Being surprised at the sight he returned to his tent and calling his Ministers enquired the meaning of such a strange occurrence. They replied that the explanation lay in the fact that the soil of the place excelled in virtue and for that reason no living creature bore enmity against another. The Raja therefore came to the conclusion that this was just the kind of site he was in search of and founded a new town, calling it Jambupura.’
The spot on which the tank was found is now called Purani Mandl,’- a locality in Jammu town, where the Rajas on their accession receive the rajtilak, or mark of investiture at the time of installation. The Purani Mandi marks the spot where the palace originally stood, and the Rajas resided for centuries. It is near the small temple of Raghunath (Rama) called ” Maharani ka Mandir,” founded by the Bandhrali Rani of Maharaja Ranbir Singh. A great number of people are daily fed there, and receive each one pice in cash in name of the rani. The present Purani Mandi buildings are said to have been erected by Raja Mal Dev, probably in the fourteenth century. The present palace is modern and was erected by Maharaja Gulab Singh.
Jammu has no ancient buildings or remains, nor anything to indicate that it is a place of great antiquity. The temples, which are generally a sure evidence of age, are all modern. The place has a large population, but its prosperity is of recent date. The earliest historical mention of Jammu is in connection with Timur’s invasion in A.D. 1398-9. In the Tarikh-i-Kashmlr-i-Azami (A.D. 1417) a Raja of Jammu is referred to and the town is spoken of as then about five hundred years old. We may therefore conclude that it was founded about A.D. 900. It is quite possible, however, that Jammu may date from an earlier period, as the legend says; though it may not have been a place of any importance and did not become the capital till a later time.”
Get the complete article here at Archive.org
Tawi. Jammu. Spring.2013.
Gulab Singh’s fort [by the side of Chinab?]. 1847. By James Duffield Harding during 1846 visit to the Kingdom by Charles Stewart Hardinge, the eldest son of the first Viscount Henry Hardinge, the Governor General of India.
[via: British Library]
Map of Jammu City. Company Period Punjab. 1880-90 A.D.
[from an exhibition at Kala Kendar Jammu]
Dogra Man 1944
“Nautch fencing dance before the Prince of Wales at Jummoo”,1876.

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Hasan Shah and the ‘lost’ Kings of Rajatarangini by Pandit Anand Koul



Dar gaya, darbar gaya;
Ab dishit mar gaya.
It went to court, it went to court;
(And) on seeing the water it died.

A Kashmiri riddle, answer: Kagaz

That story goes that Moulvi Ghulam Hasan Shah (1832-1898) of village Gamru near Bandipur once visited Rawalpindi to procure a copy of a Persian History of Kashmir written by one Mula Ahmad of village Pindori. The book was said to be the translation of an ancient work called Ratnakar Purana that contained account of 47 Kings of Kashmir not mentioned in Kalhana’s Rajatarangini. During Budshah Zain-ul-abdin’s (1422-1474) time a search was launched to look for old Puranas and Taranginis so that an updated version of Kashmir could be brought out in other Persian by Mula Ahmad, the court poet of Zain-ul-abdin. They had names of about 15 different Rajataranginis but only four could be traced: those of Kalhana, Khimendra, Wachhulakar and Padmamihar. Out of these Khimendra’s Rajataranginis was found to be grossly unreliable, but using the other a translation of Rajatarangini was prepared. However, a few years later some birch bark leaves of an old Rajatarangini written by one Pandit Ratnakar, called Ratanakar Purana was found by one Praja Pandit. From these leaves an account of 47 ‘lost’ kings of Kashmir was made known, and these were added to Mula Ahmad’s History of Kashmir. Later, Ratnakar Purana was again lost and survived only in Mula Ahmad’s translation.

It is said Hasan Shah was able to obtain a copy of Mula Ahmad’s translation from a Kashmiri immigrant in Rawalpindi named Mulah Mahmud. Hasan Shah later incorporated it into his three volume ‘Tarikh-i- Hasan’. However, he was to later lose the Mula Ahmad’s History of Kashmir in rather odd circumstances. He was traveling on a boat with the book when the boat capsized. Hasan Shah was saved but Mula Ahmad’s book was lost forever. In 1902, kashmir Durbar tried to procure a copy of Mulah Ahmad’s copy but Mulah Mahmud had since died and his family had moved to Kabul at the invitation of Amir Abdul Rahman Khan, Emir of Afghanistan from 1880 to 1901. So the only source for the ‘lost’ kings of Kashmir comes from Hasan Shah, seventh generation progeny of one Ganes Koul.

In the history of Kashmir written by Westerners in English, the first mention of Hasan Shah comes from Walter Rooper Lawrence, the Land settlement officer in Kashmir from 1889 to 1895. Lawrence was taught Kashmiri by Hasan Shah. He acknowledged:

“What else (Kashmiri language) I learnt, I owe to Pir Hasan Sah, a learned Kashmiri, whose work has entirely been among the villagers.”

When Lawrence became Private Secretary to Viceroy of India, he invited Hasan to be presented to the viceroy. But by the time invitation arrived, Hasan had been dead for a few days. 

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The above piece is based on a brief biography of Hasan Shah written by Pandit Anand Koul for Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1913. Anand Koul  also gave us an account of eight ‘lost’ kings (from A.D.s) based on Hasan Shah’s writings. A few years earlier, in 1910 for the same journal Pandit Anand Koul wrote a long (contoversial?) piece titled ‘History of Kashmir’ based on Hasan’s writing and presented account of of 47 kings (from B.C.s). Here the line of missing kings is linked to Pandavas. And as an additional proof he brings up Pandit belief in Pandav Lar’rey, belief that Mattan was built by Pandavs.

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I have compiled the two pieces together and are now available here:
at Archive.org

containing

A biography of Kashmiri historian Hasan Shah and History of Kashmir by Pandit Anand Koul for Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal vol 9 (1913)
History of Kashmir by Pandit Anand Koul for Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal vol 6 (1910)

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Complete Guide to Awantisvara Temple, Avantipur


A century ago, when the digging began at Avantipora, people expected to find two temples dedicated to Shiva. Instead they found one dedicated to Vishnu (Awantiswamin Temple) and the other dedicated to Shiva (Awantisvara Temple). The smaller of the two, Awantiswamin was found to be more stunning while Awantisvara was found to be in a more decrepit state.

Awantisvara temple is located near the hamlet of Jaubrar about a kilometer to the north-west of the Awantiswamin temple. While leaving Srinagar and moving onto Bijbehara, this is the first ruin of Avanitpur.

This temple too is believed to have been built by King Avantivarman (AD 855 – 883 AD), the first king of the Utpala dynasty.

Archaeologist Debala Mitra gives the layout of the complex:

“Facing the west, the complex consists of a panchayatana temple in the middle of an oblong courtyard, two subsidiary shrines (one each at the north-easter anf south-eastern corners)”, a quadrangular array of cells around the periphery of the courtyard and a double chambered imposing gateway in the centre of the western row of cells in two flanks.”

The ruins suggest that the temple was laid to be a immense monument but for unknown reasons the construction was never completed.

From the book ‘Pandrethan, Avantipur & Martand’ (1977) by Debala Mitra

What would have been a ‘ghata– (pot) shaped’ pillar. Something not found in design of Awantiswamin temple.

“The interior of the central shrine is still covered with a heap of large stones, and it is not yet known if any fragments of the image of Avantisvara-Mahadeva, which was worshipped in this temple, will be found.” ~ D. R. Sahni in 1913 after doing the initial digging.

The relief of Avantivarman and his queen.  
The ground is littered with stones bearing such carving which were meant to be part of the temple.

Some part of the relief is buried under the ground

The injury to the stone is definitely recent and man made.
From the book ‘Pandrethan, Avantipur & Martand’ (1977) by Debala Mitra, the carved stone in a more pristine form.
Apparently there is something about breasts that makes the modern man very violent.

Found this beautifully carved and selectively mutilated stone slab sitting under a tree somewhere in Gurgaon, right next to a yellow, dusty, empty plot. [2010] 
This is one of the fluted shafts of the smaller shrines around the main complex

Vidyadhara, or the wisdom holders

In 2014, Awantiswamin is kept by ASI as site keeping in mind the tourists, there is an office and a ticketing system, while Awantisvara is more like a local public park. It is open for everyone with just a low barrier at the main outside gate designed to keep out the animals.

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Previously:
Complete Guide to Awantiswamin Temple, Avantipur

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A brief visual history of Boat Processions

Ruler on a boat with attendants
17th century, reign of Jahangir
British Museum
Jahangir’s trip to Wular Lake
George Landseer (1834–78) painted it in 1881 but depicts scene from 1860 when he accompanied
Lord Canning, Governor-General of India from 1856-62, to Kashmir.
‘The Viceroy’s tour in Kashmir – The procession of boats with his excellency nearing the Sumbul Bridge (Sumbal in Baramulla district) on the way to Srinagar’ -The Graphic. 18th December, 1891.
Lord Lansdowne (1888 – 1894) was the viceroy at the time and setting up of Durand Commission for defining boundary of British India and Afghanistan was one of the high-points of his career.
Maharaja’s Boat
From Francis Frith’s album. Around 1850s to 1870s.
via: Victoria and Albert Museum.
The State Barge
From an album by Bourne & Shepherd. 1880.
via: bonhams.com
A famous image from Maharaja’s Procession
cover of Italian weekly newspaper newspaper ‘La Domenica Del Corriere’, 11 January, 1925.
This is from time when Biscoe boys also took up boats besides the boatmen of Kashmmir
Boat of Lord Irwin Viceroy of India [1926–31], 1927
By Franklin Price Knott for National Geographic

Russian Leaders Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev’s boat procession, 1955
via: Indian Photo Division

“The picturesque river procession on the Jhelum (September 24, 1949) which was one of the festive items during the meeting of the Kashmir National conference. The boat carrying Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sheikh Mohd. Abdullah appears at the centre of the picture.”
via: Indian Photo Division
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Boat procession caught by James Burke
undated for Life Magazine
Based on the message “we convoke the constituent assembly”…it is probably 1951.
The is a welcome message for Nehru from ‘Shri Bhairavnath Trust, Chattabal’ !

Chattabal the place I come from was the usual start or end point of these later procession. And that trust was the pundit organisation associated with the Bairov temple of Chattabal, a temple which was later shut down in 1970s and burnt in 1990s. My grandfather was a member of the trust.

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The only boat frenzy I have witnessed comes from a land as rich in boat traditions but where it is not a thing of the past. It is still alive and celebrated.

Aranmula boat race, Kerala 2013

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Jahangir/Akbar and the Kashmiri Oarsman


Last year I came across an interesting note in William Irvine’s Later Mughals (1922).

“Nawara, these boats were fashioned into fanciful shapes such as wild animals, etc. They were roofed in at one end, which was covered with broad cloth; they were better finished and lighter than a common boat (kishti). The boatmen were mostly from Kashmir and used Kashmiri calls to each other when working.“



Source was given as Mirat-Ul-Istilah (1745) of Anand Ram Mukhlis who was giving a description of Babar’s boating experience. Nawara, the Mughal word for river fleets, may now be an unfamiliar term in South Asia but boat people in another part of Asia do recognize it. Nawara or Nawa Rupa is part of boat legends of Myanmar.

And now, I finally have the graphical representation these boats and their Kashmiri oarsmen.


Ruler on a boat with attendants
17th century, reign of Jahangir
British Museum

I came across it in the book ‘The Arts of Kashmir’ Ed. by Pratapaditya Pal. In the chapter on ‘Panting and Calligraphy (1200-1900)’, Pratapaditya Pal presents it as the Mughal representation of Kashmiri landscape. In this painting a royal can be seen visiting the island of Zaina Lank in Wular lake. Although the inscription mentions the name of Akbar, Pratapaditya Pal assumes it is a mistake as memoirs of Jahangir, Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri mention his visit to the island. However, Abul Fazl’s Ain-i-Akbari also mentions the man-made island of Zain-ul-abidin in Wular. Also, Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri does at times reuse Abul Fazl’s writings for description of places. Particularly in case of Kashmir which the two visited together in 1589. Jahangir’s writing are more detailed about Kashmir probably because of his thirteen or so visits.

What is interesting in this painting, beside the animal boats, is the way ‘race’ distinctions are represented in it.

The boatman of the royalty has a prominent nose while the royals have an aquiline nose. The boatman has a very Kashmiri nose that sets him apart from the others. So the first persons besides royalties to be painted in Kashmir (and later photographed) were its boatmen. The boatmen whose ancestors built the island in Wular by unloading the countless stones into it on the orders of Zain-ul-abidin.

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Identifier: The sideburns
Jahangir holding the picture of Madonna (1620 AD)
National Museum Delhi

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Previously:

Kashmiri Boatmen in Mughal river fleet
Aurangzeb’s Kashmir fleet

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Complete Guide to Awantiswamin Temple, Avantipur


Something I always wanted to do: Visit a historic site in Kashmir that I had read a lot about and seen a lot of vintage photographs of. Done.

About 28 kilometers southeast of Srinagar, on the right bank of upriver Jhelum, on the main road to Bijbehara, are located the ruins that mark the Awantiswamin Temple. Travelling by road to Kashmir, this is the first major historic site that one gets to see. The place is know as Vantipor or Avantipor and was founded by King Avantivarman (AD 855 – 883 AD), the first king of the Utpala dynasty, on the ancient site called Visvaikasara.

The first mention of these ruins in old western travelogues can be found in George Forster writing about his visit to the place  in 1783 although he identified it as Bhyteenpur. Then in writing of Moorcroft who visited the place in 1823,  Baron Hugel in around 1835 , Vigne in around 1837. All of them saw a confusing mass of stones hinting at remains of ancient ruins buried under ground.

Alexander Cunningham in about 1848 took the first serious look at the ruins, did some basic digging, exposing remains of a bigger structure. Even though a lot his assumptions were proved to be wrong (like his assertion that the temple must have been dedicated to Shiva and the size of the temple).

The scene was recored for posterity by John Burke in 1868 and presented in Henry Hardy Cole’s Archaeological Survey of India report, ‘Illustrations of Ancient Buildings in Kashmir’ (1869).

Photo1: Burke’s photograph from 1868

The first serious excavation work at Avantipur began at a cost of about 5000 rupees in 1910 under J. C. Chatterji on recommendation of Sir John Marshall to the state Durbar in 1907. His digging went to no more than 7 feet below ground level i.e. about 8 feet about the courtyard floor level of the temple. Chatterji found some copper coins and charred remains of a birch-bark manuscript. The floor, several stairs, central shrine and the basement of peristyle remained buried.

Then in 1913, Daya Ram Sahni did the second and most extensive round of excavations at the site. His findings were first published in ‘Annual report of the archaeological survey of India 1913-14’ under title ‘Excavations at Avantipur’.

It was this dig that uncovered the structures that we see it today at the site. The excavation also revealed artefacts that shed light on the way Kashmiris lived their life during various eras as coins of various kings and earthenware were uncovered. Among other things he found earthen heating bowls, the kind used by boatmen and poor in Kashmir. He found jars with still some corn in them, the same kind that were used in Kashmir till recent times. He found evidence that during various eras, a part of the structure may have continued to be used as a religious site by the Brahmins.

The ruinous state of the ancient temple (as in case of almost all ancient temples in Kashmir) was and is attributed to Sikandar Butshikan.  But, supporting an earlier claim by Cunningham, Sahni found that “The courtyard of the temple had filled up with silt for more than two-thirds of the height of the colonnade already before the time of Sikandar [Butshikan].” During violent eras only the structure above ground had suffered. In this way one of Kashmir’s the most finely decorated ancient structure was discovered. It’s fortunate well preserved state a result of nature’s small mercy in the form of silting from either a catastrophic event or slow changing of Vitasta’s course and it’s flood area saving it from the hands of both man and nature during much of 13th and 14 century.

Photo2: Ground Plan of Awantiswamin temple by Sahni
Photo3:What must have been ‘recently excavated’ Avantipur.
Photograph by Ambrose Petrocokino in 1917
[‘Cashmere: three weeks in a houseboat’ (1920) ]

Awantiswamin temple was built by Avantivarman in around 855 CE. Kalhana’s Rajatarangini tells us it was just before his accession to throne and also mentions that this was this fortress like temple in which royal officers of King Jayasimha (1128-1154 A.D.) successfully survived a siege by Damaras (feudal barons of ancient Kashmir), an event that must have occurred during Kalhana’s time. Before the excavation, some of the observers had assumed that the temple was dedicated to Shiva (Baron Hugel without much evidence actually thought it was a Buddist temple) . But once the base of the temple was excavated, Awantiswamin temple was found to be devoted to Vishnu. Avantivarman did built a Shiva temple which is nearby and is now known as Avantishovra Temple.

Photo 4

Photo 5

Photo 6
Photo 7

Photo 8: Built in Grey Limestone prone to vagaries of nature
Photo 9: Ganga in niche on left with lotus in right hand, quadrangle porch, outer chamber, northern wall.
Identified because in left hand she has a vessel and is riding a crocodile 
Photo 10
Photo 11
 Photo 12: Yamuna in niche on right with lotus in left hand, quadrangle porch, outer chamber, southern wall.
Her ride, the tortoise was missing even in 1913 [more about Ganga Yamuna iconography in Kashmir]
Photo 13: Medallions in lower part represent Garuda 
Photo 14
Photo 15
Photo 16
Photo 17
Photo 18

Photo 19
Photo 20
Photo 21: Left wall to the stairs. 
Photo 22: Six armed Vishnu with his consorts 

According to Sahni, “To his right and left are Satyavama and Sri. The emblems in the right hands of Vishnu are a mace (dada), a garland and an ear of corn (manjari). The uppermost left hand has a bow (pin aka, and the lower most a lotus bud. the middle hand rests on the left great of the goddess on that side. In front of the seat on which Vishnu sits are three birds, apparently parrots. The tilaka on the foreground of the central figure is a circular dot. Thos on the foreheads of the goddesses are dots enclosed in crescents. The panel is enclosed in square-pilasters of quasi-Greek type, surmounted with a multi foil arch with a goose in each spandril.”
Photo 23
Photo 24: Right block of the staircase
Photo 25:

Sahni presumed this one too to be of Vishnu. He writes, “The subject depicted on the front of the other flank is identical, except that the figure of Vishnu is four-armed and his forehead-mark is similar to that of the goddesses.”
But later scholars (Sunil Chandra Ray in Early History and Culture of Kashmir) mention it as 
“Kamadeva with his wives Rati and Priti”
[update April, 2016: The identification of Kamadeva was done by J. Vogel in 1933 while reviewing Kak’s book for annual Bibliography of Indian archaeology 1933, Vol. 8]

Photo 26: Left block of the staircase

Photo 27: King with his queens and attendants
Inner side of Left block near stair case
Sahni, had suggested that it might be the image of a Brahma. The scholars now agree the the image represents the chief patron of the temple, the King. “Whether the fiure stands for King Utpalapida, Sukhavarman who became the de facto ruler or Avantivarman himself is not know”[Debala Mitra, Pandrethan, Avantipur & Martand, 1977]
Photo 28: The Geese Motiff
also found on Harwan tiles

Photo 29: A Harwan tile

Photo 30: Prince with his queens and attendants
Inner side right block
Photo 31

The particular block is interesting as Sahni in 1913 had identified it as Krishna and the Gopis. He writes, “The central figure presumably represents the youthful Krishna standing facing with a flower bud in each hand. To his right and left are archangels bringing presents of sweets and garlands in the upper corners. To the proper right of Krishna we notice a pair of figures, the lower one being a female (cowherdess), who is feeding a cow from a bowl. The other figures on this side and the four figures on the other side may be cowherd boys (gopa).”

The scholars [Debala Mitra, Pandrethan, Avantipur & Martand, 1977] now consider this to be image of a Prince, possibly Avantivarman.


Photo 32
Photo 33: Inner Courtyard 

Photo 34: The central structure
Back in 1913, Sahni noticed that the blocks were used by people as construction material in Srinagar.
The central statue was never found only parts of pedestals 

Photo 35: Left block was dedicated to Ganga. These are of a slightly later date than the main structure.
Photo 36

Photo 37

Photo 38

Photo 39

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Photo 41

Photo 42

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Under ASI, it is one of the best maintained of ancient monuments in Kashmir. The entrance only costs rupees five. I visited the place in the afternoon of 22 February 2014 in midst of wintry showers. There were no tourists. I found my self alone in the ruins. Well, almost alone. The government tourist guide, a guy with a crazy eye, proved to be surprisingly good. He knew the basics and the important elementary facts about the site perfectly. He took no extra money for the service and in fact refused extra money. At the end of his guided tour, he was in for a pleasant shock when he realised that I was no normal tourist but a fellow Kashmiri.

If the place was somehow again buried today, in a couple of hundred years when they dig it up again, they would find bottles of cold drink and assume the climate of Kashmir had started changing. They would look at the marks of fresh violence on the stones and assume man was heading no where.

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To be updated with download link for Sahni’s papers.


Read: ‘Excavations at Avantipura’ by D. R. Sahni in ‘Annual report of the archaeological survey of India 1913-14’.

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Ceiling of Pandrethan

Photograph of the Meruvardhanaswami temple at Pandrethan near Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, taken in 1868 by John Burke. Pandrethan, now mostly in ruins, is one of Kashmir’s historic capitals, said by Kalhana in his poetical account of Kashmiri history called Rajatarangini to have been founded by king Pravarsena in the 6th century AD. Its name thus derives from Puranadishthana or ‘old town’. The small stone Shiva temple in the picture dates from the mid-10th century, reputedly erected by a minister named Meru. It was set in a spring-fed tank and its plinth is now submerged. This general view of the temple is reproduced in Henry Hardy Cole’s Archaeological Survey of India report, ‘Illustrations of Ancient Buildings in Kashmir,’ (1869), in which he wrote, ‘The small village of Pandrethan is situated on the Jhelum, about a mile and a half to the south-east of Srinagar…The Temple is close to the village, and stands in the centre of a tank of water…At the time of my visit, the water was about two feet over the floor of the Temple, and I had to obtain a small boat to enable me and my surveyors to take measurements. The stone ceiling is elaborately carved in bas-relief figures, and it is one of the most perfect pieces of ancient carving that exists in Kashmir…The pyramidal roof is divided into two portions by an ornamental band. The corner pilasters are surmounted by carved capitals, and the pediments of the porches appear to have terminated with a melon-shaped ornament. The ceiling is formed of nine blocks of stone; four resting over the angles of the cornice, reduce the opening to a square, and an upper course of four stones still further reduces the opening, which is covered by a single block decorated with a large lotus.’

The above image and description is easily available at British Library. What I am actually sharing is something inside the temple. The design that could be seen on the ceiling. 
The design on the ceiling was first copied by Alexander Cunningham in around 1848 after a tip-off by Lord John Elphinstone. When Cunningham visited the temple, there was evidence that one time the ornamentation, the designs and the figures of the temple must have been profusely plastered over to cover its naked idol beauty.
Inside, he found figures on the walls plastered as also the ornamentation on ceiling. He gives it as the reason why George Trebeck didn’t notice any figures or any designs on the ceiling when he became the first European to enter the temple in around 1822. 
Alexander Cunningham had the plaster removed and the figures on the ceiling appeared.
Cunningham’s copy of the design
Essay on the Avian Order of Architecture by Alexander Cunningham
Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal (1848)
 “The ceiling is formed of nine blocks, four of which rest over the angles of the cornice, and reduce the opening to a square, which is just one half of the size of the other. The same process is again repeated with an upper course of four stones, by which the opening is still further narrowed to a square of 4 feet ; and lastly, this opening is covered by a single stone decorated with a large expanded lotus, surrounded by a beaded circle. The smaller angles are occupied by naked human figures, something similar to those of the Payach ceiling, but without wings. These figures besides have only one leg and one arm outstretched, which affords more variety than the other treatment at Payach. Each of the larger angles is filled with two figures holding out a garland, which falls in a graceful loop between them. The whole rests upon a cornice supported by brackets, which were so much decayed that I found it impossible to trace their decorations or even their exact shape. The spaces between the brackets were also much injured ; but they appeared to have been filled with some kind of ornamental drapery hanging in curved folds.”
The winged figures noticed by him on the ceiling of Payach:
A much more detailed (lesser know) copy of Pandrethan ceiling prepared by one R.T. Burney was presented by W.G. Cowie in his 1865 paper ‘Notes on some of the Temples of Kashmir, especially those not described by General A. Cunninghan’ (Journal of The Asiatiic Society of Bengal Volume 35, Part 1. 1866)
W.G. Cowie  states: “General Cunningham’s drawing of the ceiling of the temple is not quite complete. From the accompanying very accurate sketch made by Mr. R. T. Burney of the Civil Service, (Plate XVIII.), it will be seen that the angles of the square in which the beaded circle is, are occupied by naked human figures, as well as the angles of the other squares. These innermost figures have both arms outstretched, like those at Payach seeming to hold up the circle. They have drapery about their shoulders, resembling light scarfs. The brackets supporting the cornice were once ornamented, and show marks of great violence having been used to destroy the carving. Each appears to have represented a human head ; for on several of them there still remains on both sides what looks like plaited hair. The pediment pilasters project 5 inches beyond those supporting the trefoiled arches. The corner pilasters of the building are 1 foot 10 1/2 inches thick. I found what I took for mortar in all parts of the building.
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Plaited hair in a Harwan Tile

Traditional Kashmiri plaited hairstyle.
1890s 
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Among Kashmiri Pandits “mas parun” –  plaiting hair of the would be bride on the day of “Devgon“.

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Kashmir in Akbar’s Dream

A woman, her head covered, like she was on her way to a temple, praying aloud for the welfare of her family, like at a temple, walked past me and entered the chamber that is believed to house the grave of Akbar. The unconventionally plain walled chamber in fact houses the cenotaph of Akbar the Great.
Sikandra. U.P. July. 2011.

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In 1892, just three weeks after his death, Lord Alfred Tennyson, considered one of the greatest British Poet, was posthumously published. The collection of poems ‘The Death of Oenone, Akbar’s Dream, and Other Poems’. Among these, ‘Akbar’s Dream’ is considered his last possible work. The poem was set as a conversation between Akbar and his trusted friend Abu Fazal. In the verses giving us visions of Akbar’s great dream for his empire, its subjects, his fear of his sons and their budding blood thirst, his prophecy of a possible death of his dreams, and a possible salvation through adoption by a bigger dream – in all of it we can read how Tennyson believed British Empire was the only true inheritor and propagator of Akbar’s dream.  The work is an interesting mixup of British imperialistic dreams with their oriental longings.

If one forgets that it’s actually a British poem and has a subliminal meaning, an Indian can now easily adopt Akbar’s dream. Or perhaps already has. Isn’t modern India imagined and presented as a part of Akbar’s great dream? That’s not even remotely interesting. What is interesting is that this dream of Akbar presented by Tennyson actually starts with Kashmir.

AN INSCRIPTION BY ABUL FAZL FOR A TEMPLE IN KASHMIR
(Blochmann xxxii.)

O GOD in every temple I see people that see thee,
and in every language I hear spoken, people praise thee.
Polytheism and Islam feel after thee.
Each religion says, ‘Thou art one, without equal.’
If it be a mosque people murmur the holy prayer, and if it be a Christian Church, people ring the bell from love to Thee.
Sometimes I frequent the Christian cloister, and sometimes the mosque.
But it is thou whom I search from temple to temple.
Thy elect have no dealings with either heresy or orthodoxy; for neither of them stands behind the screen of thy truth.
Heresy to the heretic, and religion to the orthodox,
But the dust of the rose-petal belongs to the heart of the perfume seller.

In 1872, Heidegger (Henry) Blochmann published the manuscript of ‘The Ain i Akbari’, and then in 1873 followed it with a translation.

In this book, about the origin of these lines, Blochmann writes:

“The ‘Durar ul Manshur’, a modern Tazkirah by Muhammad Askari Husaini of Bilgram, selects the following inscription written by Abul Fazal for a temple in Kashmir as a specimen both of Abul Fazal’s writing and his religious belief. It is certainly vey characteristic, and is easily recognised as Abul Fazal’s composition.”

The original with translation and his notes follows:

And so, that great experiment too started with Kashmir.

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