262 Essay on the Avian Order of Architecture. [Sept. 



8. — The date to be assigned to the large temple of Marttand itself 

 can only be conjectured, as I can find no mention of it in the Raja 

 Tarangini. The plan of the body of the temple, as already noticed, is 

 very similar to that of Payach, which I have assigned to the reign of 

 Narendraditya, the predecessor of Ranaditya. In the later temples of 

 Avantipura, Pathan, and Pandrethan, all the porticos of the four sides 

 project considerably more beyond their main walls than those of the 

 older temples of Bhaumajo, Payach, and Marttand; of which the 

 particos are almost flush with the rest of the building. Taking these 

 indications as slight proofs of rather an earlier style, I think that the 

 erection of the great Sun-temple may perhaps be ascribed to a some- 

 what earlier period than that of the building at Payach. Now amongst 

 the predecessors of Narendraditya I find only two who were sufficiently 

 powerful to have erected such an extensive and costly building : namely, 

 Arya Raja, who reigned from 360 to 383, A. D. ; and Meghavahana, 

 who reigned from 383 to 400, A. D. As the latter however was a zea- 

 lous Buddhist, the erection of a sun temple can scarcely be attributed 

 to him. The date of its foundation may therefore be fixed approxi- 

 mately at A. D. 370, during the reign of the zealous Saiva prince, the 

 regenerated Arya Raja. 



9. — As the temple of Marttand is the most celebrated specimen of 

 the Kashmirian architecture, I think it right to state every suggestion 

 which presents itself for the determination of the true period of its 

 erection, I will therefore give another version of the recording couplet 

 of the Raja Tarangini, which appears to me quite as probable as the 

 former one. This new rendering is as follows : " He, in the village of 

 Sinharotsika, erected (a temple) named Ranapuraswami, (and another) 

 to the famous all-pervading Sun." This version attributes the erection 

 of both temples to Ranaditya, who reigned about A. D. 500. But 

 whichever rendering may be accepted as the correct one, the date of 

 the foundation of the temple will still be within the limits of little more 

 than one century — or between A. D. 370 and 500. 



10. — Fortunately there is no doubt regarding the date of the erection 

 of the noble peristyle of Marttand, which, thanks to the author of the 

 Raja Tarangini, is distinctly recorded in the following verse, B. 4 — 

 v. 192— 



