KASHMIR. 271 



antiquities ; Dr Ince, Captain Bates, and Lieut. Cole, 

 following General Cunningham, deriving it from 

 Puranadhisthana, or "the old chief city"- -while 

 Dr Elmslie, adopting its Kashmir sound Pandrenton, 

 derives it from Darendun. and his five sons the famous 

 Pandus. Hiigel, again, made the mistake of calling 

 it a Budhist temple, though it is clearly Hindu, and 

 associated with the Xaga or snake worship. The 

 water round this temple makes an examination of 

 the interior difficult; but Captain Bates says that 

 the roof is covered with sculpture of such purely 

 classic design, that any uninitiated person who saw 

 it on paper would at once take it for a sketch from 

 a Greek or Roman original. This suggests actual 

 Greek influence ; and Cunningham says, in connec- 

 tion with the fluted columns, porches, and pediments 

 of Murtand, " I feel convinced myself that several 

 of the Kashmiriaii forms, and many of the details, 

 were borrowed from the temples of the Kabulian 

 Greeks, while the arrangements of the interior and 

 the relative proportions of the different parts were of 

 Hindu origin." It is not improbable, however, that 

 these Kashmir ruins may have belonged to an earlier 

 age, and have had an influence upon Greek architec- 

 ture instead of having been influenced by it ; but, be 

 that as it may, this beautiful little temple, with its 

 profusion of decoration, and grey with antiquity, 

 stands alone, a curious remnant of a lost city and a 

 bygone age the city, according to tradition, having 



