150 
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY OF KAS'MIR. [Extra No. 2, 
gonal cella of which the high basement and the side walls are still well- 
preserved. The quadrangular court in which it stands is enclosed by 
ancient walls and approached by ornamented gateways. 
The position of this shrine has suggested to me its possible identity 
with the ancient temple of Visnu Ranasvamin which Kalhana mentions as 
founded by King Ranaditya. 1 This temple must have enjoyed consider¬ 
able celebrity till a comparatively late period. Manklia refers to it as 
an object of his father’s devotion and Jonaraja in his comments on the 
passage speaks of Visnu Ranasvamin as one of the chief shrines of 
Pravarapura. 2 3 
In his own Chronicle Jonaraja indicates this temple as the furthest 
point up to which Zainu-l-‘abidin carried the canal flowing through 
Jainanagari} The latter locality corresponds to the Srinagar quarters 
of Sangin Darwaza and Naushahr, and the canal itself is the one now 
known as Lach a m Kul . 4 * It brings the waters of the Sind River via Am- 
burlier to the northern suburbs of S'rinagar, and after flowing past the 
Jami‘ Masjid empties itself into the Mar canal near the bridge called 
Kad 1 Kad a l. In the corner formed by the two canals stands the ruined 
temple above described. If it could be shown that the present termina¬ 
tion of the Lach a m Kul is the same which Jonaraja knew in the 
middle of the fifteenth century, the identity of those remains with 
the Ranasvamin temple might be considered as certain. 
97- Crossing the Mar to the south we reach the city quarter 
known as Bradhnar , occupying the right bank 
of the river between the Fourth and Fifth 
Bridge. It derives its name from the ancient 
Bhattarakamatha which is repeatedly referred to in the Rajatararigini 
as a building of considerable size and strength. 6 Bilhana too notices it 
specially in his descripton of STinagar. Like other Mathas built 
originally to serve the purposes of a Sarai, it was used on occasion as a 
place of defence. Queen Didda sent her infant son there at the time of 
a dangerous rising. 
Bhattarakamatha; 
Diddamatha. 
1 Raj at. iii. 453 sq. note. 
2 See Srileanthacar. iii. 68. 
3 See Jonar. 872. 
* Compare Rajat. iii. 453-454 note. The Lach a m Kul is mentioned by 
Abu-1-Fazl, ii. p. 355. It probably took its name (equivalent to # Laksmikulya) from 
Laksmi, the queen of Shahabu-d-din, in whose honour the quarter of Laksminagari 
was found in the vicinity of the present Sangin Darwaza ; see Jonar. 407 sq. 
6 See Rajat. vi. 240 note; viii. 2426 ; Viler am, xviii. 11. For the derivation of 
Brad 1 from Bhattaralea comp. Brqdnamlal < Bhattaranadvald , below. That Bhatta¬ 
rakamatha was the old name of this locality, is known to the tradition of the 
Fandits 5 see Buhler, Report, p. 16. 
