1848.] Essay on the Avian Order of Architecture. 247 



Avantipura temple (Plate XIX.) was 10*5>;2|feet — and Vigne* men- 

 tions one of almost exactly the same size, over the entrance to the inner 

 chamber of Marttand. Its dimensions were not less than 10 feet in length, 

 by about a yard in thickness. The lower roofing stone of the Payach 

 temple is 8 feet square by 4 feet in height. As a cubic foot of the 

 Kashmirian limestone weighs 166|- ifos., each of the above blocks must 

 weigh nearly 17 tons. — But even such massive blocks, although heavy 

 enough for all purposes of solidity, and sufficiently large for the greatest 

 stretch of Kashmirian intercolumniations, were much too small to suit 

 the exaggerated ideas which had been formed of Pandavan architecture. 

 Accordingly we find even the sober Ferishtaf gravely asserting that 

 " many of the stones are from 40 to 60 feet in length, and from 3 to 

 15 feet in thickness and width" — or just four times the actual size of 

 the blocks which I have measured. The other dimensions given by 

 him are also much exaggerated : thus, he says that the walls of the 

 quadrangles are from " 500 to 600 feet in length, and in many parts 

 nearly 100 feet in height." The longest side of the Marttand quad- 

 rangle is 249 feet on the exterior, and the height of the gateway was 

 about 54 feet, or just one half of the dimensions stated. I have quoted 

 these passages to show how little dependence can be placed in the most 

 detailed dimensions even of the most trustworthy native authors ; and 

 I now proceed to describe the temples themselves from my own notes 

 and measurements, with occasional illustrations from Moorcroft, Hugel, 

 and Vigne. 



II. — Temple on the Takht-i-Sidimdn. 



1 . The oldest temple in Kashmir, both in appearance and according 

 to tradition, is that upon the Takht-i-Suliman hill. It is now called 

 Sankardchdrya ; but the Brahmans in the valley were unanimous in 

 their belief that its original name was Jyeshteswara. Its erection they 

 ascribed to Jaloka, the son of Asoka, who reigned about 220 B. C. 

 The old Hindu name of the hill however was Sandhimdna-parvata, 

 which is said to have suggested the Mahomedan designation of Takht_ 

 i-Sidimdn, from the similarity of sound between the two. The name 



* Kashmir, v. 1— p. 390. 

 f Briggs, v. 4 — p. 445. 



