1848.] Essay on the Avian Order of Architecture. 245 



effected by gun-powder, and I would then ascribe their overthrow to 

 the bigotted Aurangzeb. Ferishta* attributed to Sikandar the de- 

 molition of all the Kashmirian temples save one, which was dedicated to 

 Mahadeva and which only escaped " in consequence of its foundation 

 being below the surface of the neighbouring water." In A. D. 1580- 

 90 however Abul Fazlf mentions that some of the idolatrous temples 

 were in " perfect preservation ;" and Ferishta himself describes many 

 of these edifices as being in existence in his own time, or about A. D. 

 1600 4 Besides, as several of them are still standing, although more 

 or less injured, it is quite certain that Sikandar could not have destroyed 

 them all. He most likely gave orders that they should all be over- 

 turned ; and I have no doubt that many of the principal temples were 

 thrown down during his reign. For instance, the tomb of his own 

 X^ueen in Srinagar is built upon the foundation, and with the materials 

 of a Hindu temple : likewise the wall which surrounds the tomb of his 

 son, Zein-ul-Ab-ud-din, was once the enclosure of a Hindu temple — and 

 lastly, the entrance of a Masjid in Nowa-Shehra of Srinagar, which 

 according to its inscription was built during the reign of his son Zein- 

 ul-Ab-ud-din, is formed of two fluted pillars of a Hindu peristyle. 

 These instances prove that at least three different temples in the capital 

 alone must have been overthrown either by Sikandar or by one of his 

 predecessors. But as the demolition of idol temples is not attributed 

 to any one of the earlier kings, we may safely ascribe the destruction 

 of the three above mentioned to Sikandar himself. 



9. But besides the ruthless hand of the destroyer, another agency 

 less immediate, but equally certain in its ultimate effects, must have been 

 at work upon the large temples of Kashmir. The silent ravages of the 

 destroyer who carries away pillars and stones for the erection of other 

 edifices, have been going on for centuries. Pillars from which the 

 architraves have been thus removed have been thrown down by earth 

 quakes, ready to be set up again for the decoration of the first masjid 

 or tomb that might be erected in their neighbourhood. Thus every 

 Mahomedan building in Kashmir is constructed either entirely or in 

 part of the ruins of Hindu temples. An instance of the transfer of 



* Briggs, v. 4— p. 465. 



f Ayin Akbari, v. 2 — p. 124. 



X Biiggs, v. 4 — p. 445. 



