1848.] Essay on the Arian Order of Architecture. 289 



X. — Temples at Lldar. 



1 . — Vigne who is the only person that has seen these ruins, describes 

 them* as follows: "At Lidar, or Lidarpur, are two old Hindu temples. 

 One resembles the centre building at Marttand, but is much smaller : 

 the other I was informed, was very old indeed ; and I have no doubt 

 of the fact, it being built in the centre of a small pond, now, however, 

 overgrown with reeds and rushes. It may have been built by Ledder 

 Khan, one of the earliest Princes of the Pandu line. ,, In Vigne' s map 

 the name of this place is spelt Lidu ; and from its position I have 

 no doubt that it is the village of Ludaho ^T^%T, called also Dadhu- 

 mand Gopdl, in a list of Kashmirian villages, which Mirza Ahad gave 

 me in 1839. I made enquiries regarding this place from several Brah- 

 mans whilst I was in the city ; and again at Pandrethan, Pampur and 

 Wantipur ; but the constant reply was, that there were no ruins of any 

 kind at Ludaho. As I was pressed for time, I, therefore, gave up my in- 

 tention of going to that place, judging that a visit to the ruins, which were 

 not well known to the people, would scarcely repay me for the loss of 

 time, and might probably entail my being caught in the snow. And 

 I was the more ready to forego this visit, as Vigne himself does not 

 include them in the list of temples, which he considered worthy of 

 inspection. 



2. — Regarding the period of their erection, therefore, I cannot possi- 

 bly offer more than a vague approximation : for Vigne' s idea, that one 

 of them must be very old, because it stands in the centre of a small 

 pond, is completely disproved by the fact, that the temple of Pandre- 

 than, which is also surrounded by water, is the most modern of all the 

 authenticated buildings of Kashmir. The dates of their erection must 

 certainly lie between A. D. 400 — 900, and we might not be far wrong in 

 assigning them to the period of Lalitaditya's reign, between A. D. 693— 

 729. For his great city of Lalitadityapura, now only a small village, 

 called Latapur, is only 3 miles to the S. E. of Ludaho : and we know 

 that it was the practice of the Kashmirian courtiers to erect temples as 

 well as dwelling houses in the neighbourhood of places founded by their 

 kings. 



3. — I have a suspicion, however, that the place is much older than the 

 time of Lalitaditya, for in the Raja Taranginif it is related that Raja 



* Kashmir, vol, 2. p. 35. } B. 1— v. 8. 



2 a 



