[Reader-list] Art & Culture - The Sun-Temple of Martand in Kashmir

[Pawan Durani]

The Sun-Temple of Martand in Kashmir

The temple of Martand, the most magnificent and impressive of all the
temples in Kashmir, is situated at a distance of five miles to the
east of Anantnag town. Although the temple stands in ruins yet it
still looks full of grandeur.
SITUATION
It is situated at the top of a high plateau and overlooks the plains
of the Valley which wear the garment of verdure. These plains contain
clusters of lakes, streams, springs and rivers and the whole Valley is
surrounded by snow-capped mountains. In spring particularly, the
perfumed air at Martand caresses one's face and seems to reach the
heart and one feels a vague longing for an undefined happiness of
divinity. It is a masterpiece of the site and beauty of Nature which
gives the Sun-temple its unique and superb grandeur.


Cunningham feels that the erection of the Sun-temple was suggested by
the "magnificent sunny prospect which its situation commands. It
overlooks the finest view of Kashmir, perhaps in the known world.
Beneath it lies the Paradise of East with its sacred streams and
glens, its orchards and green fields, surrounded on all sides by vast
snowy mountains whose lofty peaks seem to smile upon the beautiful
Valley below. The vast extent of the scene makes it sublime, for this
magnificent view of Kashmir is no petty peer on a half-mile glen, but
the full display of a Valley 30 miles in breadth and 84 miles in
length, the whole of which lies beneath the ken of the wonderful
Martand".

DATE OF CONSTRUCTION
Much has been speculated on the date of its construction. Pandit Anand
Koul, a great Kashmiri scholar, remarks in this connection: "The true
date of the erection of this temple-the wonder of Kashmir-is a
disputed point of chronology, but the period of its foundation took
place probably between 370 A.D. and 500 A.D. The colonnade is recorded
in the Rajatarangini as the work of the famous Lalitaditya who reigned
in Kashmir from 724-760A.D. From the same authority we gather-though
the interpretation of the verses is considerably disputed-that the
temple itself was built by Ranaditya who reigned in 223 A.D. and side
chapels or at least one of them, by his queen Amritprabha".
Cole, on the other hand, is of the opinion that "the large temple
dedicated to the Sun, was probably of an earlier date, and may
possibly have been erected by Samdhimati-Aryaraja (35 B.C.), who with
the exception of the Buddhist Prince Meghavahana (12 A.D.) was the
only rich predecessor of Ranaditya (223 A.D.) and a worshipper of the
emblems of Shiva".
DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE
Martand temple consists of a courtyard with main temple in the middle
and colonnaded peristyle, which is 220 feet long and 142 feet broad.
It has eighty four fluted columns facing the courtyard. The peristyle
is externally plain, except on the west side, which originally had a
row of columns. Bates feels that the interior must have been imposing
as the exterior.
The Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1848, Part II contains the
best description of the temple. It mentions that the entrance of
gateway, stands in the middle of the western side of the quandrangle
and is of the same width as the temple itself. The proportion is in
accordance with the ideas of Hindu architectural grandeur, for the
rules laid down by them as quoted by Ram Raz, give different
proportions from six-sevenths to ten elevenths of the width of the
temple for each style of the gateway from the most simple to the
magnificent. Outwardly, the Martand gateway resembles the temple
itself in the disposition of its parts and in the decoration of its
pediments and pilasters. It was open to west and east, and was divided
into distinct portions forming an inner and outer portico, by a cross
wall with a doorway in the centre, which was no doubt closed with a
wooden door. On each flank of the gateway pediment was supported by
massive fluted pillars, 17.5 feet in height, or 8 feet higher than
those in the quadrangle. One of these is still standing to the south
of the entrance; and the style of the architecture and the entablature
which connected these pillars with the gateway must have been same as
the architecture in the Avantiswami temple described above. I surmise
that the front and the back pediments of the gateway were supported on
similar large pillars but it is possible that the square foundations
which observed in the front may have been only the remains of the
wing-walls of a flight of steps. The roof was pyramidal; for a portion
of the sloping mouldings of its pediment was still to be seen on one
side.
The walls of the gateway are profusely decorated, internally and
externally, the chief motif of decoration being rows of double
pedimented niches alternating with rectangular of the inner chamber of
the gateway which contains the tall figure of a three-headed Vishnu
standing between two attendants. Immediately below is the long
rectangular panel decorated with a row of dancing urchins striking a
variety of attitudes. The temple proper is 63 feet in length and 30
feet in width at the eastern end and only 27 feet in width at the
western entrance end. It contains three distinct chambers of which the
outermost, named ardhamandapa or half temple, answering to the front
porch of classical fanes is 18 feet and 10 inches square; the middle
one called antaral or "middle temple", corresponding to the pronads of
the Greeks, is 18 feet by 4.5 feet, and the innermost called
garbhagriha, or womb of the edifice, the naos of the Greeks and the
cells of the Romans, is 18 feet and 5 inches by 13 feet and 10 inches.
The first is open and highly decorated in accordance with its name
mandapa, meaning `literary ornamented'. The middle chamber is
decorated in the same style; but the inner chamber is plain and is
closed on three sides. The walls of the temple are 9 feet thick and of
its entrance chamber only 4.5 feet thick, being respectively one half
and one fourth of the interior width of the building".
It is said that a constant supply of fresh water was kept up through
the canal from the river Lider which was conducted along the side of
the mountain for the use of the village close by.
IMAGES OF THE TEMPLE
The Journal of Asiatic Society Bengal mentions: "Among the images
carved on the walls of the antarals and the antechamber, we notice on
the left wall of the former a well executed image of the river-goddess
Ganga standing upon her vehicle, the crocodile, which is looking up
towards her. A female attendant on her right and a chauri-bearer is on
her left. She holds on her right an umbrella over her head. She holds
her usual emblems, a water pot in the left hand and the stalk of a
lotus flower in her right hand. She is crowned with a double conical
tiara; on the opposite of the antarals is the river goddess Yamuna,
with her vehicle, the tortoise. Above the niche on the north wall is a
relief consisting of a pair of Gandharvas in flight with an umbrella
over them. The statues on the western wall of the antechamber are
undoubtedly representatives of Vishnu and what Ferguson mistook for
hoods of snakes are in reality points of their coronets. Each of them
is three-faced, like the Vishnu image found in the Avantiswami temple,
the left face being that of a boar (varha) and the right one that of a
man-lion (narsimha). Both are eight-armed and their lower hands are
placed on the heads of the chauri-bearer, as in other images of Vishnu
found in the Valley. Furthermore, they wear the garlands (vanmala) and
we also notice the bust of the earth-goddess (prithvi) between the
feet of the statue on the north wall. Most of the images have hands
which are unfortunately broken and weather-worn, and the emblems they
hold can no longer be identified. Nor can the fourteen-seated figures
which occur on the walls of the antechamber below the cornice be
identified with certainty. Twelve of them occur in the north and south
walls, i.e., six on each and two on the east wall. The one on the
right seems to represent Aruna, the charioteer of Surya, holding the
reins of his seven horses. The pilasters of the great trefoil arch of
the antechamber contain images which cannot yet be identified. The
chapels of the north and south of the antechamber each contains two
niches 5 feet 9 inches by 4 feet internally, which face to the east
and west respectively, possibly an illusion to rising and setting
sun".
FURTHER DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE
As is usually common in the temples of Kashmir, the roof appears to
have been of the pyramidal type. Such was the magnificent mass of
building dedicated to the Sun, a mass 75 feet in height, 33 feet in
length and the same in width including the wings. Entrance was gained
by a wide flight of steps which are now covered by ruins. On each of
the other sides 11 as a closed doorway surmounted by a trefoiled arch
and covered by a pediment which rose to a height of 60 feet. At the
angles of the buildings on each side of the doorway were stout
pilasters, which were divided into panels, each decorated with a
miniature representation of the Aryan style of temple. These pilasters
sustained the entablature, and gave a look of strength and solidity to
the walls which was fully needed for the support of the vast massive
roof. This lofty pyramid of stone was itself rendered lighter and more
elegant in appearance by being broken into two portions separated by
an ornamented band and by the addition of small niches with pointed
roofs and trefoiled recesses, all of which were in strict keeping with
the general character of the building.
The peristyle is the largest example of its kind in Kashmir. In the
middle of its larger sides there are a pair of large fluted pillars,
13 feet in height and 10 square parallel pillars which, with the four
pillars of the central porches, make up the number of 84, that was
sacred to the Sun… Of these about one half, all more or less
imperfect, now remain standing. Each pillar was 9.5 feet in height and
21.5 feet in diameter with an intercolumnation of 6 feet and 9.5
inches... The imposts (behind) were surmounted by human-headed birds
facing each other, and a smaller bird, looking to the front,
ornamented the horizontal mouldings of the pediments.
About one-third of the entablature still exists principally on the
north-eastern side of the quandrangle.
The other walls of the quandrangle are ornamented by a succession of
trefoil-headed panels similar in shape and size to the recessed
opening of the interior.
Pandit Anand Koul remarks: "In the wall of the longer interior chamber
is a window reaching the floor and about eight feet in height. The
walls thus divided quarterly are filled with single figures in relief,
two of Surya and two of Lakshmi, one each panel".
Some time back the courtyard of the temple was excavated and stones
and debris were cleared. Shree R. C. Kak, the renowned archaeologist,
relates that "removal of the accumulated debris of centuries from the
base temple has also brought to light a very important fact, viz.,
that previous to the construction of the present temple there existed
another temple of somewhat smaller dimensions at this site. When the
new temple was built, the older temple base was not demolished but was
enveloped by a new base with larger dimensions, as is borne out by the
existence of both the bases, side by side, one within the other, on
the east side of the temple. The older temple was probably the one
built on this side by Ranaditya".
Dr. Goetz, however, says, "Martand stands not quite isolated. It was a
smaller counterpart in the plains, the temple of Malot in the Salt
Range. Malot raises the problems of the Martand temple even more
acutely. For it was a facade of purely Roman-Cornitian half-pillars
enclosing trefoiled archway crowned by a set of shikhara. If the first
has already been proved characteristic for Lalitaditya's reign, the
second was possible only in a time of the closest contact with Bihar
and Bengal, i.e. when the king of Gauda had become Lalitaditya's
vassal and prisoner".

Source:

The Rich Heritage of Jammu and Kashmir

Studies in Art, Architecture, History and Culture of the Region

By Prof. Somnath Wakhlu

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