Land of Kashyapa - Page#16 - Awantipora

Awantipora

Wherever we went in Kashmir I saw copper utensils that were tastefully decorated in floral motifs and geometrical patterns. The most beautiful thing I saw was a copper Samovar that served delicious "Kahwah" tea. The mountains of this place have copper deposits which have been mined since ancient times by Kings to mint currency.

Much before Islam came to this place, Kings had been minting coins in silver and copper. Successful Kings were able to keep prices of essentials low and affordable for the masses. The currency of Kashmir in ancient India was complex and structured. Currencies were graded as Kowri, Bahagain, Punsu, and Hath. I read that even Dinar was a currency - only that its value was ridiculously very small.

The need to mention the coinage and currency is to help the reader understand why history gives great importance to the lowering of prices of grain when it talks about kings like Avantivarman. It is said that during his time the price of paddy showed a steep decline from 200 dinars to 36 dinars for the measure of one Kharwar or 565 kilos. Avantivarman had cleared swamps, built embankments, reclaimed land, and regulated the course of Vitasta (Jhelum) to increase the production of grains exponentially. He was helped ably by Suyya, who was his prime minister. Suyya who was an engineer and architect helped the king make their kingdom economically strong.

"The accession of Avantivarman (855-83 A.D.) on the throne of Kashmir ushered in a period of peace and prosperity. His was an Age of Consolidation and Enlightenment: He did not have the ambition of going on expeditions and conquering many lands. He was wise enough to realize that these vain, glorious expeditions outside the valley sapped the resources of the Kingdom. He did not try to regain control over the neighboring states. Thus there was peace and Kashmir reached the apex of philosophy and literature."

Bamzai, his devoted Prime Minister and historian summed up Avantivarmans reign in a Sanskrit verse: "This is the time to do good, while fortune, fickle by nature, is present. How can there be again time for doing good since misfortune is always imminent".

"At the court of Avantivarman, scholars and poets enjoyed honour and patronage. Among these are Bhatta Kallata, the pupil of Vasagupta, the founder of Spandasastra branch of Kashmir Saiva Philosophy, Kavi Ratnakara and Anandavardhana. Their extant works occupy high position in old Sanskrit literature of Kashmir."

Avantivarman built the temples of Avantisvara for Shiva and Avatiswamy for Vishnu in his newly founded city. Avantisvara is larger but is currently fully ruined with only the base of the shrine standing. The smaller Avantiswamy is reasonably preserved. Both temples are apart by only a couple of kilometers.

The Avantiswamy temple has colonnades similar to the Martand temple - 69 of them - none where I saw idols. The details on the stone panels are more intricate and the walls are well ornamented with sculpted reliefs. Some of the column capitals remain scattered all over the place. Sri Madhusudhanan Kalaichelvan observed they were Greek influences in the styles of the capitals.

If you are here, you would weep at the state of this once magnificent temple which has been vandalized and ripped of its living deity. The contemporary house of prayer in green you see in the picture is to spite the "kafirs". I also made a timelapse video to show you the ruins.

Sriram(Hari)

Note on Awantipora:

Ram Chandra Kak was the prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir during 1945–1947. He was one of the very few Kashmiri Pandits to ever hold that post. "He was a pioneering archaeologist who excavated the major sites of antiquities in Kashmir Valley and wrote a definitive treatise on them." His work included the temple ruins in Awantipora

In his treatise on Kashmiri archaeology titled "Ancient monuments of Kashmir in 1933" which focused on the the destruction of temples by Muslim rulers to such an extent, that he was compelled by the publisher to expunge certain "irrelevant" passages lest communal harmony was affected. He wrote about "the centuries of Islamic rule as one of unmitigated plunder, barbarism, and iconoclasm."