Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c39.40

c39.40

The second golden age of the mediaeval architecture of Kashmir was brought into being more than a century later by the patronage of king Avantivarman (855-883), and his immediate successors. As was not an uncommon procedure in India this ruler began to build a capital city according to his own ideas and requirements and selected a commanding site overlooking a bend in the river Jhelum, eighteen miles south-east of Srinagar, calling it Avantipur. All that now remains of this city are the ruins of two temples some little distance apart, one being the Siva temple of Avantesvara, and the other the Vishnu temple of Avantesvami The former is much the larger, and may have been intended for public worship, while the latter, which although smaller is lavishly planned, was probably for the use of the royal family and the court only. Of the great Siva temple little more than the foundations remain, but it must have been an imposing structure, as the exterior dimensions of its courtyard measure 218 feet by 200 feet, and the base of the shrine building in the centre of this was over 57 feet square, so that in size at least it was second only to that at Martand. An elaboration in the composition of the central structure took the form of four supplementary shrines, one projecting from each corner of the main platform, thus aggregating five shrines in all, and making it therefore into an example of the *panchayatana* or five-shrined type