THE ENVIRONS OF S'RlNAGARA. 
163 
1899.] 
Hiraiiyapura. 
ancient Tirtha of the goddess S'arada (see below § 127). Leaving aside 
the famous garden of Shalimar of which our old texts know nothing, 1 * 
we come to a marshy extension of the Dal known as Tel a bal. The 
stream which flows through it and which forms a branch of the river 
coming from the Mar Sar, bore the old name of Tilaprastha , a 
104. The road which takes us from Tel a bal to the mouth of the 
Sind Valley is the same which was followed 
by the pretender Bhiksacara and his rebel 
allies on a march to Suresvari described in the Rajatarangini. 3 The 
narrow embankment on which they fought and defeated the royal 
troops, leads across the Tel a bal marshes. 
At the south foot of the ridge which runs down to the opening of 
the Sind Valley, we find the village of Rgnyil , the ancient Hiranyapura . 4 * 
The place is said by Kalhana to have been founded by King 
Hiranyaksa. As it lies on the high-road from the Sind Valley to 
S'rinagar it is repeatedly mentioned also in connection with military 
operations directed from that side against the capital. The victorious 
Uccala when marching upon S'rinagar, had the Abhiseka ceremony 
performed en route by the Brahmans of Hiranyapura. It seems to have 
been a place of importance, since it figures in a fairy-tale related in the 
Kafchasaritsagara as the capital of Ka^mir. 6 A spring a little to the 
south of the village is visited by the pilgrims to the Haramukutaganga 
and bears in Mahatmyas the name of Hiranyaksanaga. 
From near Ranyil several old water-courses radiate which carry the 
water of the Sind River to the village lying 
between the Anctfiar and the Dal lakes. One 
of these canals passes the village of Zukur. 
A tradition recorded already by General Cunningham identifies this 
place with the ancient Juskapura. Kalhana names the place as a 
foundation of the Turuska (i.e. Kusana) King Juska who also built a 
Vihara there. 6 The Muhammadan shrines and tombs of the village 
contain considerable remains of ancient buildings. 
Juskapura; 
Amaresvara. 
1 The first reference to this somewhat over-praised locality which I can find, 
is in Abu-1-Fazl who mentions the waterfall or rather the cascades of ‘ Shalahmar ’; 
see ii. p. 361. The Vitasta-, Isalaya-, and Mahadeva-Mahatmyas which are of very 
modern origin, show this faet also by their references to * S'dlamara’ and the whimsical 
etymologies which they give for the name (Mdrafald, etc.). We might reasonably 
expect that Jonaraja and S'rivara in their detailed accounts of the pal would have 
mentioned the place if it had then claimed any importance, 
3 See Rdjat. v. 46 note ; S'riv. i. 421. 
& See Rdjat. viii. 744 note, 
4 For detailed references see Rdjat. i. 287 note. 
6 See Kathdsar. lxv. 215 sqq. 
6 See Rdjat, i, 168 note; Anc, Qeogr, p. 101. 
