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Leaving the Setu where it makes its great bend and going north across low ground flanked by marshes, we reach the quarter of Nāvapūr. The bridge which leads here over the Mar or Mahāsarit, is repeatedly mentioned as NAUPURASETU by Srivara, in connection with later sieges of Srinagar. By breaking it, the south-eastern parts of the city were rendered more secure. Continuing our route to the north we come to the great suburb of Ranivōr. It is traversed by numerous canals coming from the Dal. Kalhaṇa mentions it repeatedly by its ancient name of RĀJĀNAVĀȚIKĀ as a place largely inhabited by Brahmans. Their solemn fasts (prāyopaveśa) gave no small trouble to King Sussala in his worst straights.2 Ranivōr has continued to the present day a favourite place of residence for city Brahmans.

100. We have now completed our circuit of the ancient city as far as it lay on the right bank of the river Left river bank. and may proceed to the smaller and later portion which occupies the left bank. Just opposite to the Marisaṁgama' stands the Shergarhi, the modern palace of the Dogra rulers. Its site was apparently first chosen by the Pathan governors for their fortified residence.

Immediately below the palace the Kutakul or Kṣiptika branches off from the river. We have already noticed its value as a line of defence for this part of the city. The quarter of Kathül which lies next between the Kuṭakul and the river is of ancient date. It is mentioned as Kasthila by Kalhana and other writers, Bilhaņa speaking of it particularly as a locality inhabited by Brahmans.4

Site of Royal
Palace.

At the northern end of the Kāṭhül quarter and close to the present Second Bridge, we must assume the palace of the later Hindu kings to have stood. Its position is indicated by an interesting passage of the Rajatarangiņi which informs us that King Ananta (A. D. 1028-63) abandoned the palace of the former dynasties and transferred the royal residence to the vicinity of the shrine of SADASIVA, The new site was adhered to by subsequent kings probably till long after Kalhana's time. The mention of the Sadasiva shrine and the fre

1 See Sriv. iv. 122, 243.

See Rajat. viii. 756, 768, 899. For the phonetic relation of Rặnĩ < Skr. Rājāna, see viii. 756 note; vōr is common in Ks. local names and derived from Skr. vățikā 'garden.'

8 See above, § 67.

• See Rajat. viii. 1169 note, and Vikram. xviii. 25.

Compare Rajat. viii. 186-187, and for detailed proof of the identification, the note thereon.

quent references to the Kṣiptika as flowing near to the royal palace (rājadhānī) enable us to fix the position of the latter with fair accuracy. In the note on the above passage I have shown that the Sadasiva temple stood opposite to the Samudramatha which occupies the right river bank just below the Second Bridge. Exactly in the position thus indicated we find now an ancient Linga, on the river Ghāṭ of Puruş yar, which the tradition of the local Purohitās knows by the name of Sadasiva.

It is in this neighbourhood, then, that the palace stood which had witnessed so many tragic scenes related in the last two Books of Kalhana's Chronicle. Its great height is specially referred to by Bilhana. This suggests that it was in part at least built of wood, just like a later palace described by Mirzā Ḥaidar. "Sultan Zainu-l-‘ābidin built himself a palace in the town which in the dialect of Kashmir is called Rājdān [i.e., Skr. rājadhāni]. It has twelve stories, some of which contain fifty rooms, halls and corridors. The whole of this lofty structure is built of wood." This construction of the palace would well explain the rapidity with which it was burned down by the pretender Uccala on his final attack upon Harsa. We can thus also understand why there are no particularly striking remains at the site which could be attributed to the ruins of this royal residence.

The last-named incident gives Kalhana occasion to mention also some other data regarding the royal palace. Close to it was a garden. in which Harșa and his ill-fated son Bhoja enjoyed a deceptive rest before the rebels' last assault.3 The gardens near the palace are also elsewhere mentioned. Harṣa had their trees cut down because they obstructed the view, and at a later time the besieging Dāmaras fed their camp-fires with wood brought from the same gardens. Even at the present day there are numerous old gardens across the Kṣiptikā close to the site where the palace once stood. In front of the palace was the boat-bridge already mentioned which the king had himself constructed, and which was the scene of his last desperate struggle.

Where the old palace stood which was abandoned by King Ananta, we cannot say with accuracy. It is, however, probable that its site was in the old part of Pravarapura on the right bank. Kalhana mentions it twice as purāṇarājadhānī ('the old palace'), but gives no particulars.6 Its deserted ground was built over with a Matha in Kalhana's own time.

I See Tarikh-i-Rashidi, p. 429.

2 See Rajat. vii. 1565 sq., 1583.

3 Rajat. vii. 1538 sqq.

♦ Rajat. vii. 1223; viii. 1056. See Rajat. vii. 1539, 1549.

6 See Rajat. viii. 837, 2417.

The embankments on the left side of the river as well as the walls of Ziarats show ample remains of ancient buildings. But we have no means of identifying any particular sites. At the western extremity of this part of the city, however, we may locate with some probability the temple of Kṣemagaurisvara, built by Queen Diddā's weak husband Kṣemagupta. Bilhana in his description of Srinagar mentions it as an imposing building, the 'Mandapas' of which extended to a 'Samgama' of the Vitastā. I have shown elsewhere that the confluence meant is probably that of the Vitasta with the Dugdhasindhu or Chats kul which lies opposite to the quarter of Diddāmaṭha.2

SECTION V. THE ENVIRONS OF SRINAGARA.

101. Having completed our survey of old Srinagara we may now proceed to examine the ancient sites of its environs. They are almost all situated to the north of the Vitasta within the Pargana now known as Phakh, and designated as Phākhuvā in Srivara's Chronicle. It comprises the tract lying between the east shore of the Anchiar, the range towards the Sind Valley and the hills which enclose the Dal on the east and south. Owing to the facility of communication across the lake and the manifold attractions of its shores, Phakh seems to have always been a favourite resort for the inhabitants of the capital. This fact is fully illustrated by the numerous places of ancient date which we find dotted around the lake.

Starting from its southernmost corner in the immediate vicinity of the city we come first to the hill popularly The 'Hill of Gopa' known as Takht-i-Sulaiman. Its bold pyrami(Gopādri.) dal form and the old temple which crowns its summit, make this hill a most conspicuous object in the land-scape of Srinagar. The present name of the hill, meaning Solomon's throne,' is undoubtedly of Muhammadan origin. Its alleged derivation from Samdhimat, the saintly hero of a well-known legend recorded in the Rājatarangiņī, is nothing but an invention of the Bachbaṭṭas of Srinagar.

1 Vikram. xviii. 23.

2 Compare Rajat. vi. 172-173 note.

8 Sriv. iv. 306. The Lokaprakāśa writes Phāgva while the modern Mahatmyas of Isalaya or Isabar and Sureśvari affect the form Phālaka.

The name Takht-i-Sulaiman is common enough in the local nomenclature of Muhammadan countries; compare, e.g., the peak of this name in the Sulaiman

That the ancient designation of the hill was GOPADRI is shown beyond all doubt by an interesting passage of Kalhana's Chronicle. It relates how the troops of the pretender Bhikṣacara when thrown back from the city which they had endeavoured to enter after crossing the Mahāsarit, i.e., from the south-east, took refuge on the Gopa hill' or Gopadri. There they were besieged by the royal troops until a diversion made by Bhikṣācara enable them to retreat to the higher hills in the east by the low neck which connects these with the Takht-i Sulaimān.

Kalhana in the First Book of his Chronicle informs us that King Gopaditya built a shrine of Siva Jyeṣṭheśvara on the Gopadri. It is difficult not to connect this notice in some way with the extant temple which occupies so prominent a position on the summit of the hill. General Cunningham, it is true, on the strength of an alleged tradition had proposed to identify this temple with the Jyesṭharudra shrine which Kalhana mentions as a foundation of Jalauka, Aśoka's son, in the ancient Srinagari. But Prof. Bühler has already shown that there is no genuine tradition regarding the temple among the Srinagar Brahmans.

It is certain that the superstructures of the present temple belong to a late period." But the massive and high base on which this temple is raised, and certain parts of the structure are no doubt of a far earlier date. These may well have formed part of a building which in Kalhana's time,-rightly or wrongly, we have no means to judge,was looked upon as a shrine of Jyeṣṭheśvara erected by King Gopaditya. There is no other ancient ruin ou the hill. Nor would the configuration of the latter have admitted at any other point but the summit, of the construction of a shrine of any dimensions. It is of interest to note that the tradition of Abu-l-Fazl's time distinctly attributed the temple standing on 'Solomon's hill' to the time of Gopaditya.

Kōh, S. of the Gumal Pass. The derivation from Samdhimat, referred to by Prof. BÜHLER, Report, p. 17, is not supported by any evidence whatever and unknown even to the most modern Mahatmyas.

1 See Rajat. viii. 1104-10 note. That the Takht-i-Sulaiman was called by its ancient name Gopadri, had been surmised already by Pt. Govind Kaul at the time of Prof. Bühler's visit; see Report, p. 17. But the decisive evidence of this passage was not known to him.

8 See i. 341 and note.

Rajat. i. 124; Anc. Geogr., p. 95; also above, § 90.

• See Report, p. 17.

5 See the remarks of FERGUSSON, History of Indian Archit., p. 282, against Gen. Cunningham's and Major Cole's assumptions who represented the extant temple as one of the earliest buildings in Kaśmir.

6 Ain-i-Akb., ii. p. 383.

Tirtha of Jyeṣṭheś

vara.

102. In my note on Rajat. i. 124 I have shown that an old tradition which can be traced back to at least the sixteenth century, connected the Takht hill with the worship of Siva Jyeṣṭharudra or, by another form of the name, JYEŞṬHESVARA (Jyeṣṭheśa). And we find in fact a Linga known by this name worshipped even at the present day at the Tirtha of Jyēṭhēr, scarcely more than one mile from the east foot of the hill.

This Tirtha which undoubtedly derives its name from Jyestheśvara, lies in a glen of the hill-side, a short distance from the east shore of the Gagri Bal portion of the Dal. Its sacred spring, designated in the comparatively modern Mahatmya as Jyeṣṭhānāga, forms a favorite object of pilgrimage for the Brahmans of Srinagar. Fragments of colossal Lingas are found in the vicinity of Jyēṭhēr and show with some other ancient remains now built into the Ziarats of Jyōṭhōr and Gupakar, that the site had been held sacred from an early time.

It is in this vicinity that we may look for the ancient shrine of Jyeṣṭharudra, which Jalauka is said to have erected at Srinagari. But in the absence of distinct archæological evidence its exact position cannot be determined. It is highly probable that whatever the origin and the date of the temple on the Takht hill may be, it was connected with the worship of Jyestharudra at Jyether. No other Tirtha is known in the immediate neighbourhood.

The distance of the shrine from the Tirtha is scarcely greater than that of Lalitaditya's temple at Mārtaṇḍ from the sacred spring in honour of which it was erected. And in both places the distance of the temple is easily accounted for by the more prominent position which was thus secured for it. There is yet another analogy in the case of the two shrines. Both have long ago ceased to be places of popular worship. But the sacred springs, to the presiding deity of which they were dedicated, continue to attract pilgrims though shorn of all splendour of temples and images. Kalhana in the same passage which mentions the erection of King Gopaditya's shrine on the 'Gopa hill' Gopagrahara; Bhumakes that prince bestow the 'Gopa Agrakṣīravǎțikā; Thedā. hāras' on Brahman settlers from Aryadeśa.8 The combination of the two local names suggests that by the GOPA

1 Compare Fourth Chron. 592, 853, 806.

2 For Jyesthesvara > Jyêṭher we have exact analogies in Kapatesvara > Kōṭhér, Amaresvara > Amburhér, etc.

3 See i. 341. Agrahāra is the regular term designating a Jagir or piece of land bestowed on individuals or religious corporations, etc.; see note i. 87.

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