1899.] 
THE OLD AND NEW CAPITALS 
145 
refers to the regularly arranged markets with which its founder had pro¬ 
vided it. The city of his own time still boasted of “ mansions which 
reached to the clouds ” built, no doubt, mostly of wood just as the mass 
of private houses in modern S'rinagar. 1 
When he mentions “ the streams meeting, pure and lovely, at plea- 
sure-residences and near market streets,” he means evidently the 
numerous canals from the Dal and Anchor lakes which intersect the 
suburbs and also pass through the heart of the city. They and the 
river still serve as the main thoroughfares for the market traffic, and 
all principal Bazars are built along their banks. 2 The S'arikaparvata 
receives due mention as “ the pleasure-hill from which the splendour 
of all the houses is visible as if from the sky.” Nor does he forget to 
praise the cool water of the Vitasta which the citizens find before their 
very houses on hot summer-days. 
Finally he refers to the abundance of magnificent temples with 
which successive kings had adorned Pravarapura, and of which so many 
are particularly mentioned in his narrative. Of the number and im¬ 
posing appearance of these structures we can even at the present day 
form some idea if we examine their massive remains which meet us in 
every part of modern S'rinagar. The high embankments which now 
line the river’s course within the city, are mainly composed of carved 
slabs, columns and other ancient stone materials. Their profusion and 
imposing dimensions must even to a superficial observer suggest an idea 
of the architectural splendour of ancient S'rinagar. 
94. It can scarcely be the result of chance that Pravarasena’s 
city has escaped the fate of so many Indian 
Advantages of the capitals, of being superseded by later founda- 
site of Srinagar. tions 
There had indeed not been wanting attempts on the part of later 
rulers to transfer the capital to other sites which they had chosen for 
their own cities. The great Lalitaditya, then Jayapida, Avantivarman, 
1 Both Mirza Haidar and Abu-1-Fazl apeak with admiration of the many lofty 
houses of S'rinagar, built of pine wood. Thia material was used, then as now, as 
being cheap and more secure against earthquakes. According to Mirza Haidar ‘‘most 
of these houses are at least fire stories high and each story contains apartments, 
halls, galleries and towers” ( Tdrikh-i-Rashidi , p. 425). That the mass of private 
dwellings in S'rinagar were already in Hindu times constructed of wood, is shown 
by Rdjat. viii. 2390. The many disastrous fires recorded point to the same con¬ 
clusion. 
2 Useful and convenient as these canals undoubtedly are, it is rather difficult 
to concede to them now the epithets of ‘ pure and lovely.’ They add, however, 
greatly to the pictaresqueness of the city and certainly make the want of carriage 
roads less felt. 
J. i. 19 
