18G6.] Notes on some of the Temples of Kashmir, 95 



and rubbish ; but to the S. W. of the gateway, and on a level with 

 the bottom of the fluted torus which crowns its basement, is part of a 

 similar torus,* or string-course, projecting from, and running hori- 

 zontally along, the face of the wall. This torus no doubt ran along 

 the exterior face of the whole quadrangle, and is probably still in good 

 preservation below the ground. Lastly, the front wall is ornamented 

 at each extremity with a trefoil-headedf recess covered by a pediment, 

 the latter resting on half engaged pillars, which are flanked by square 

 pilasters J- (one-eighth) engaged, in every way like those of the 

 interior. The quadrangle has had two large wells in the W. S. "VV. 

 and E. N. E. corners, probably to supply water for flooding the 

 enclosure ; and half way between the steps of the gateway inside and 

 the steps of the temple there is a square structure of stone, cut away 

 in the centre as if to receive the end of a prop to a raised pathway,! 

 such as that suggested by General Cunningham as the probable con- 

 nection between the gateway and the temple at Marttand. The object 

 of erecting temples in the midst of water appears to him to have been 

 " to place them more immediately under the protection of the Nagas, 

 or human-bodied and snake-tailed gods, who were zealously worshipped 

 for ages throughout Kashmir." 



The entrance or gateway§ stands in the middle of the N. N. W. 

 side of the quadrangle, and is 25J feet in width, nearly that of the 

 temple itself. Outwardly the gateway somewhat resembles the 

 temple, in the disposition of its parts and in the decorations of its 

 pediments and pilasters. It is open to the N. N. W. and S. S. E., 

 and is divided into two distinct portions by a cross wall 3f feet thick, 

 with a doorway in the centre closed by a wooden door. These inner 

 and outer porticoes of the doorway are each 16 J feet wide and 6 J feet 

 deep. Their side walls are decorated each with a miniature temple 

 having a square-headed doorway, surmounted by a pyramidal pedi- 

 ment representing a double roof. The tympanum of each compartment 

 of these roofs is occupied with the trefoiled decoration, common to 

 the Kashmirian buildings, resting on the architrave, as in the door- 

 way pediments of the temple itself. The pediment of the gateway, 



* See Photograph, No. III. 



f See Cunning-ham, p. 270, para. 25 and Photograph, No. III. 

 % See Cunningham, page 273, para. 31, and page 287, para. 8. 

 § See Photopraph, No. III. 



