70 AFOOT THROUGH THE 



of the temple on the Takht-i-Suleiman hill at Srinagar 

 are as old as the second century B.C., and that the 

 little rock temple that I visited beyond Bawan at 

 Bhumju belongs to a rather later period, but this is 

 far from probable, and the majority reduce their 

 age considerably. The greater part of the ruins 

 now to be seen was probably erected between 

 the fifth and tenth centuries. Sir Alexander Cun- 

 ningham places the reign of Banaditya, the builder 

 of Martand, between 370-500 A.D., but Fergusson does 

 not admit its foundation before the eighth century. 

 Another difficult question is that of " roofs," for it is 

 almost impossible now to determine whether the great 

 fanes at Martand and Avantipura were covered with 

 slabs of the same beautiful blue limestone of which they 

 are built, or whether they were merely roofed with wood, 

 or as some have suggested, were left open to the heavens 

 an improbability, one would imagine, in a climate 

 liable to long periods of rain and snow. If a foreign 

 influence is admitted and it is almost impossible to 

 deny it it was probably wielded by the Greeks who 

 settled in Afghanistan and the Punjab frontier under 

 Euthedymus as early as the third century B.C. 



Besides the more extensive remains, there are small 

 temples in good preservation at Ladoo, on the right 

 bank of the Jhelum, a few miles below Avantipura, at 

 Payech (this one is extremely perfect, the capitals of 

 unusual beauty and grace), at Narastan, and in less 

 good preservation at many other places. The miniature 

 size of many of these is a curious feature. Excepting 

 the great temples at Martand and Avantipura, very 

 few attain to larger dimensions than those of a " down- 

 country " shrine. The details are always carried out 



