1899 .] 
ANCIENT SITES OF S'RINAGARA. 
151 
The Chronicle shows us often the Mathas of Srinagar utilized as 
places of refuge in the times of internal troubles, occasionally also 
turned into prisons. 1 We may hence conclude that they were substan¬ 
tially built, probably like modern Sarais in the form of detached quadran¬ 
gles, and thus better adapted for defence than other city-buildings. 
That Mathas more than once left their names to the city-quarters 
in which they stood, is shown by the designation of other wards. Thus 
the large quarter of _Did a mar which forms the western end of the city on 
the right river-bank, retains the name of the Diddamatha . 2 It was 
built by Queen Didda for the accommodation of travellers from various 
parts of India. As a local name Diddamatha meets us often in the later 
Chronicles. Above Did a mar we find near the Sixth Bridge the quarter 
of Bctlandimar . 3 * It represents in all probability the Baladhyamatha 
of the later Chronicles which Jonaraja mentions as having been built 
by Baladhyacandra under King Rajadeva in the 13th century. 41 
A little to the north of the Sixth Bridge lies the Mahalla known by 
, , , , the name of Khcind a bavan. It has received 
Skandabhavana; ., „ , ,, . , „ 
Nadavana its appellation from the ancient Vihara ot 
Skandabhavana, a foundation of Skandngupta 
whom Kalhana mentions among the ministers of Pravarasena II.’s 
successor Yudhistliira. 5 The site of the Vihara has been traced by me 
in the close vicinity of the Ziarat of Pir Muhammad Basur. Certain 
ancient remains there were locally known and worshipped till the 
middle of the present century as a Tlrtha sacred to Skanda. 6 
The ground immediately to the north-east of Khand a bavan is now 
an open waste space used partly for Muhammadan graveyards. It 
seems to have been unoccupied already in old times. For it was chosen 
as the burning place for the widows of the murdered king Sussala 
when a rebel force hovering around the capital rendered the usual 
burning ground on the island of Maksikasvamin inaccessible. 7 
The quarter of Nctrvor still further to the north is probably iden¬ 
tical with the old Nadavana, mentioned by Kalhana as the site of a 
Vihara built by one of King Megliavahana’s queens. I have shown 
in my note on the passage that the modern name goes back to a form 
1 Compare Rdjat. vi. 223; viii. 374, 1052, 2309. 
2 See Rdjat. vi. 300 note. 
3 Its old name could not be shown on the map owing to want of room. 
* See Jonar. 82. 
6 See iii. 380. 
8 Compare Note K, vi. 137, also for the temple of Parvaguptesvara which stood 
close by. 
7 Rdjat. viii. 1441 sg. 
