Land of Kashyapa - Page#12 - Martand Sun Temple

Martand Sun Temple

Traveling 60 kilometers south of Srinagar along the path of river Jhelum, one would arrive in the city of Anantnag. I was surprised to learn that some locals still call it Islamabad. The name Anantnag comes from Ananta, the great serpent of Vishnu and the emblem of eternity. 10 kilometers east of the city and on the road to Pahalgam, are the ruins of the once magnificent Sun temple built by Lalitaditya Muktapida. The location is now called Mattan - perhaps from the name Marthand.

From a distance, the 75 feet high temple ruins standing on a modest platform looked as if they were torn down by the hands of fate. Every possible piece of rock has been moved out of its place. If you look at the picture of the main structure, two outer walls (which I believe are retaining walls to the main columns) have been pulled equally outside of the plinth. The main structure is magically being held on by the arches and its keystones.

The outer corridor presents a picture of wanton destruction. The entire complex was razed to the ground by Sikandar Shah (Sikandar Butshikan – "Sikandar, the Iconoclast"), the sixth sultan of the Shah Miri dynasty of Kashmir. Jonaraja was a Brahmin court poet of Sikandar's successor Zain-ul-Abidin and was commissioned to continue Kalhana's Rajatarangini. "Jonaraja argues that Sikandar's rule terminated Kashmir's long-standing tolerant culture...and cleansed Kashmir of all heretics and infidels."

"Sikandar commenced the destruction of Hindu and Buddhist shrines till, in the words of Jonaraja, no idol remained, even in the privacy of peoples' homes. Jonaraja mentions temples at Martand (Sun God), Vijayesvara (Shiva), Cakradhara (Vishnu), Suresvari (unknown), Varaha (Vishnu), and Tripuresvara (unknown) to have been destroyed by Sikandar. Add to it the temples at Parihaspora, the Tarapitha temples at Iskander Pora, and a neighboring Maha Shri Temple. A colossal statue of Buddha was razed and melted to produce coins". The terrible earthquake of 1555 in the Himalayas would have only added to the furtherance of the destruction.

The Sun temple is west-facing, perhaps flowing from the etymology of the name Martand. Sri Madhusudhanan Kalaichelvan said that East facing temples generally are "anugraha" and west facing are "prayaschitta" temples. He touched upon the merits of doing Sandhyavandanam and praying to the Sun to keep mind and speech clean. Sri Madhusudhanan says that since limestone was used predominantly in the construction of the temple, the degradation was quick and most sharp features have vanished. It seems that Sikandar had cleared the central sanctum and the adjoining places to enable Islamic prayers to be conducted inside the Sun temple.

The wonder of this place is the "haram" (garland) arrangement of 84 sub-shrines in the outer elevated corridor. Parts of the sub-shrines are still reasonably intact. The columns of the sub-shrines are evenly spaced and resemble a colonnade.

I read that the sub-shrines are actually "Sthambha Shaala Prakaram '' (peristyle = compound of pillared Halls). The 84 Anu Prasadas or Sub-Shrines represent the Sapta Adityas in 12 Rashis. Rigveda says that the Sapta Adityas are Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, Daksha, Bhaga, Amsha, Savitr or Surya. I remember the mantra "oṃ śaṃ no mitraḥ śaṃ varuṇaḥ" and wonder if the visible sun and the elements were the only gods of our ancient forefathers. Thus the 7 adityas multiplied by the 12 Rashis = 84 shrines.

Sri Madhusudhanan Kalaichelvan observes that the arches in the temple are a Greek influence. Typical of the "Gandharan style of art which is heavily influenced by the classical Greek and Hellenistic styles, Gandhara attained its height from the 1st century to the 5th century CE under the Kushan Empire, which had their capital at Peshawar".

The pillars, columns, and triangular roofs are unique to the temples of Kashmir. The Corinthian columns and capitals remind the viewer of Ancient Greek and Roman architecture.

There is a central stepped pond that Lalitaditya Muktapida has aesthetically built inside the complex. To fill it with water he constructed long slender stone channels that exist today which have soak pits for filtration. There is so much attention to the smallest detail.

There are many Sun temples in India. The best three of the ancient lot are Martand which is the oldest, Konark temple, and Modhera. There existed a much older temple built in 515BC in Kashyapapur, Multan, Pakistan, but it was destroyed in the 10th century.

The band that runs below the platform is said to hold 365 images (one for each day of the year) of various gods.

In 2014 a song for the movie Haider was shot inside the temple. The song portrayed the holy temple of the Kashmiri Pandits as Shaitan ki Gufa or Devils Den. It caused quite an outrage. Recently Hindus have started praying occasionally inside the sanctum.

Martanda comes from two words - "Mrita + Anda" meaning "The sunset that Set" to rise again. Maybe things may change for the temple that was Lalitaditya Muktapida's pinnacle of glory. Many temples are being recovered and reconstructed. Soon Martand will rise again!

If you have only one day in Kashmir, skip the Dal Lake and be here with Lalitaditya Muktapida

Sriram(Hari)