History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c14.s1.20

v1.c14.s1.20

The internal administration of Lalitāditya was also remarkable. From his foreign conquests immense wealth and treasure came into Kashmir and it was naturally spent on the building of temples and Vihāras. He gave 11 crores of golden money to the temple of Bhūteśa (Śiva). He built a Mārtanda temple (Sun) with a great uncut stone-wall which is still famous. He built a bridge over the Vitastā at Chhatrapur. He built a town outside Srinagar and at some distance and called it Parihāsapura and built there a famous temple to Viṣṇu called Parihāsa Keshava where he placed a Garuda image on a one-stone pillar 54 cubits long. Many gold and silver images of Viṣṇu, Varāha etc. are also spoken of. The Parihāsa Keshava image was of silver adorned with valuable jewels. Gold and jewels began thus to accumulate in temples, a necessary evil of idol worship, an evil which in consequence created a counter religion of idol-breaking: and the jewelled golden idols of India added the temptation of greed to the promptings of religious zeal among the Mahomedans. We shall have to speak of this strange infatuation of kings and grandees to stuff temples with immense portable riches in gold and silver and in diamonds and rubies. The practice was older than Lalitāditya, but here we have a sure mention of it, Kalhaṇa observing that "the wealth offered and dedicated in temples could not be counted". The queens also as usual built temples to their favourite deities. Chankuṇa, a Tukkhar minister gave two magical stones to the king and purchased from him an idol of Buddha which had been brought from his conquest of Magadha. He placed it in a Vihāra which he dedicated to the Buddhists. It seems clear from this as is also otherwise well-known that before Mahomedanism, Buddhism was the prevailing religion among Turks, Tukkhars and other barbarians of Turan.