Land of Kashyapa - Page#17 - Loduv

Loduv

30 kilometers to the southeast of Srinagar is Loduv. It is on the route to Awantipora.
Historian and archaeologist Ram Chandra Kak, in "Ancient Monuments of Kashmir", considers the temple to be the first of its kind and the forerunner of the elaborate Avantiswami and Martand Temples.



I read that the Loduv temple was once called Jeevanath Temple where Shiva was prayed as Bhairava. Also "this style of architecture came to an end around 6th century AD; therefore the temple cannot be dated later than the early years of the Karkota dynasty, perhaps even to the late 6th or early 7th century"
It seems "the place is revered by locals, who routinely come to the temple to offer the milk of a lactating cow, whenever the cow births a calf, to the sacred symbolic' 'nag ``.
When we reached the temple, it was nearly dark, and we had to negotiate a high wall to reach the sanctum standing in the middle of a "spring or a naturally fed pond known as Sanyasar Nag."
The temple is listed by ASI among the monuments of national importance.
The surprising thing about the temple is the square outside and the circular inside. In this respect, it resembles the Sankaracharya temple in Srinagar. The Shivalinga inside was supposedly made from limestone.
I read that more than 50 Kashmiri Pandit families lived in this small place prior to 1990. None live here today. The soil in these places is so rich that they produce the best saffron.
In one picture I framed the ancient, vandalized god lying in the waters and the reflection of a green contemporary minaret, to put the state of Kashmiri Hindus in perspective.
There seems to be no end to the ruins we are visiting. We are just numb!
Sriram(Hari)

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