1899.] 
NORTHERN DISTRICTS OF MADAVARAJYA. 
377 
more specific designation is Mais a bavan, Skr. * Matsyabliavana ’; this 
owes its origin to the abundance of sacred fish which swarm in the 
large basins filled by the spring. 1 
The ancient remains at the sacred spring itself are very scanty. 
All the more imposing are the ruins of the great temple which King 
Lalitaditya erected at a short distance in honour of the presiding deity 
of the Tirtha. 2 
They are situated a little over a mile to the south-east of 
* Bavan,’ near the northern edge of the Udar which stretches towards 
Anatnag. It can scarcely be doubted that the site was chosen with 
a view to the prominent position it assured to the great temple. 
Kalhana duly praises “ the wonderful shrine of Martanda with its 
massive walls of stone, within a lofty enclosure.” Its ruins though much 
injured by the ravages of time and earthquakes, form still the most 
impressive specimen of ancient Kasmlr architecture. They have been 
much admired by European travellers and often described. They are 
the earliest ruins in Kasmir the date of which is fixed with approximate 
accuracy. 3 
The name Martanda, in the form of M&rtand or Matan, still 
attaches to the ruins though they have long ago ceased to be an object 
of religious interest. King Kalasa had sought this great fane at the 
approach of death and expired at the feet of the sacred image (a.d. 
1089). Harsa, his son, respected this temple in the course of the ruth¬ 
less confiscations to which he subjected the other rich shrines of the 
country. Subsequently in Kalhana’s time the great quadrangular court¬ 
yard of the temple with its lofty walls and colonnades was used as 
a fortification. The destruction of the sacred image is ascribed to 
Sikandar Butshikast. 
Kalhana distinctly mentions the town “ swelling with grapes ” which 
Lalitaditya founded near his temple; but of this no trace remains now. 
It is probable that at that time a canal supplied water from the Lid a r 
to the naturally arid plateau on which the temple stands. This canal 
seems to have been repaired by Zainu-l-‘abidin whose irrigation works 
on the Martand Udar are described at length by Jonaraja. 4 The 
1 Comp. Ain-i-Ahb., ii. p. 358. 
2 See Rdjat. iv. 192 and for details my note on the passage. For a description 
of the temple compare, e.g., Cunningham, J.A.8.B., 1848, pp. 258 sqq. • Cole, 
Ancient Buildings, pp. 19 sqq. Fergusson, Ind. Architecture, pp. 285 sqq. 
3 Lalitaditya’s rule falls in the first half of the eighth century. Gen. Cunning¬ 
ham’s assumption that the temple was built by the earlier King Ranaditya, and only 
the enclosure by Lalitaditya, rests on a misinterpretation of the Rajatar. passages 
iv. 192 and iii. 462. 
4 See Jonar. 1245 sqq . 
J. i. 23 
