Photographs Autar Mota
( From top to bottom :- First five photographs were taken at Sugandesh Temple ruins and last three were taken at Shankara Gaurisa temple ruins )
“Thereupon the Chamberlain Rattanvardhana laboured and made
Sankarvarman the son of Avantivarman , the king.”
( Taranga 5 Canto 128 Rajtaringini )
“By him the daughter of the illustrious Swamiraja , the lord
of the northern region, named Sughandha was the beloved as is the night of full
moon by the moon”
( Taranga 5 verse 157 Rajtaringini )
“In association with her , in that fine town , the king who
was comparable to the king of gods , constructed SANKARA GAURISA and
SUGHANDESHA”
(Taranga 5 verse 158 Rajtarangini )
“ A Brahmin named Nayaka , learned in four Vedas who was the
noble of the shrine of the goddess of
speech , was placed in charge of the two temples of SIVA ”
( Taranga 5 verse 159 Rajtaringini )
“Thus the petty minded king , in order to make his own city
celebrated , carried away everything belonging to Parihaspora :”
( Taranga 5 verse 160 Rajtaringini )
“Cloth weaving , sale and purchase of live sock and similar
things which were the basis of fame of Pattana were once in that city . “
(Taranga 5 verse 162 Rajtaringini )
This is the story of
two temple complexes on Srinagar Baramulla road known
as PAANDAV LAARIE (PANDVA’s ABODE
) by people over here . Thanks to
kalhana , the story of the temples known as SUGANDESH and SANKARA GAURISA is well documented in
Taranga 5 of his monumental work
Rajtaringini.. The temples are located at village PATTAN on
right side of main highway once
you go from srinagar
to Baramulla .
Inspite of neglect ,
they still catch your eye even if you
move past them in a bus or car or any other mode of transport . The temples
were laid by king Sankarvarman who succeeded
his father king Avantivarman and reigned from AD 883 to 901AD . In fact he tried to do what his father had
done by laying similar temples at Awantipora . Both the temples had outer stone
wall and a central Shiva temple with
sanctum Sanctorum. The temples are in big stones and resemble MARTAND style of temple architecture of kashmir .The area used to be called PATTANA as per Kalhana and later came to be known as
Sankarapura .Both the temples were
dedicated to Mahadeva or shiva by the king .Sankarvarman built his
kingdom's capital in Sankarpura ( Pattan ) . The temples were laid in conjunction
with his queen Saugandha . This queen
was executed during the reign of king PARTHA ( 906-921 AD) who had come under the influence of TANTRINS
.The temples are about 300 metres apart
and beautiful gardens have been laid
presently beside these
monuments by Archeological survey of India
. Both are protected monuments . While SUGANDESH Temple
structure is in a larger
area , SANKARA GAURISA temple is close to the town and has a Tonga stand
near it. I visited both the monuments
thrice in 2009. All the six photographs
at the top of this post relate to SUGANDESH while below uploaded four photographs were
taken by me in and around SANKARA GAURISA
. Some parts of the Sankara
Gaurisa temple, including the colonnade,
the temple plinth and a small shrine in the northeast corner, have sunk into
the ground due reason of its long
neglect. The entrance to the Sankara-Gaurishwara temple is through the square
space in the middle of the eastern path.
There are various images in the lower and larger panels of this Temple structure. Most of
the European travelers to kashmir saw these temples in bad shape almost as
ruins in total neglect . According to Lawrence :-
"There are many
ominous cracks on the walls , and if the forest trees which have taken root in
these crevices are allowed to remain and
spread , the destruction of both the buildings is imminent . "
( See page 125 of the valley of kashmir
Kalhana records that sankarvarman practically took
everything from Parihaaspora ( a city built by our illustrious king Lalitaditya nearby these temple structures ) to build his new capital at PATTAN.It took me
some time to take inner views of SHANKARA GAURISA temple . .
“Sir I shall tell them nothing . These young men think that
we elders are a stone in their path . As if we can neither think nor
understand. Just Fools . ”
That is what Abdul Salam the tonga owner from Tonga stand outside the Shankara
Gaurisa told me . Infact I wanted to
take some pictures of the monument but I
found two boys and a girl sitting inside the monument in a posture
that made me feel ashamed . They noticed
me but ignored my physical presence . Having failed to seek help of Abdul Salam
, I went again and requested them that I wanted to take a photograph and
would be pleased if they could move to
one side for just two minutes . One of the boys turned to me and said smilingly
,
“ Tul Assi Ti Tul Saa
Photo . Assi Chhanaa Shaqal photovuss laayakh. ” Meaning “Take our snap
also . Don’t you find our faces worth Photographing . ” I felt shame is My
problem not theirs . Abdul Salam was right .
On My return from
these monuments i told my driver as to how rapidly values have changed in Kashmir . He agreed and blamed the younger generation. I do not
blame youngsters alone . I hold a firm belief that Kashmir
can produce many many Fayaz shawls ,
Mohd Sultan Khuroos and Agha Shahid Alis .
I have found the new generation of kashmiri children sharp , intelligent
and sincere. They need a direction and environment .
(Text And Photo By Avtar Mota )
CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.
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