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| Reconstructing an ancient capital of Kashmir | | Parihasapora | | J.N. Ganhar
The far-famed valley of Kashmir was aeons ago, the bed of a vast mountain-lake known as Satisar, the lake of Sati or Parvati, Shiva’s divine consort. The waters of the lake were drained through some fault or faults in the enclosing mountain ramparts. This extraordinary development is remembered in the ancient legend recounted in the Nilamatapurana.
What was left behind on the escape of the waters was a marshy valley and a number of Karewas or alluvial flats that had formed in the lake by the accumulation of silt brought down by mountain streams.
The first settlements in the valley were, therefore, on its mountain side or the Karewas, such as those at Burzahama, Guphakral, Symthan, Verinag or Nilanag, Hukhaliter (ancient Shuakalatra) Khag, Bandipora, Budgam, etc.
When the valley became part of the Ashokan empire, he built his capital (in Kashmir) on the mountain-side at Pandrathan. This was named Srinagari and has left its name to the present-day capital of Kashmir. But as the lower parts of the capital were prone to floods, Praverasena shifted his capital to Pravarapura on the western flanks of Hari Parbat hill. But the Ashokan name stuck to his capital although it was built about a millennium after the great Buddhist emperor.
Kashmir reached the acme of its power and glory in the second quarter of the eighth century A.D. when Lailitaditya-Muktapida was its ruler. He was a great warrior whose military exploits extended from Bengal in the east to Saurashtra in the west and in the words of Late, Sheikh Mohd. Abdullah (Aatish-e-Chinar), from the Vindhyas in the south to Mongolia in the north. From the subdued territories he brought much wealth and many skilled work-men and these he pressed into service to embellish the already existing towns and villages. He also decided to build a new capital of his own.
Lailitaditya was a great town builder and his choice of the site for his new capital was unexceptionable. He chose for it the Karewa of Parihaspora now known as Parspor.
The Karewa of Parihasapora is about a hundred feet above the surrounding marshy ground and hence immune to floods, which have been the bane of Kashmir down to modern times. Parihasapora is an extensive Karewa or alluvial flat, about two miles from north to south and about a mile in width. In Lalitaditya’s time it has the added advantage of having the confluence of the two principal rivers of Kashmir, the Vitasta (Jhelum) and the Sindhu (Sind) at its feet in the north, at the village Trigrami. The confluence of the two rivers was shifted to its present site at Shadipor three miles to the north. Another great ruler of Kashmir Avantivarman, about a century after Lalitaditya.
Paraspor is about a dozen miles north of Srinagar and a little off from the highway from Srinagar to Baramulla. A broad ravine cuts into the Karewa from the south and in it has grown the village of Divar-Yakhmanpor.
In Lalitaditya’s time, the emphasis was not on building palaces and pavilions for the ruler’s self but to build temples and viharas for the gods and their devotees. The two principal faiths of Kashmir in those days were Hinduism and Buddhism. So the most important edifices that the ruler built were Hindu and Buddhist. Lalitaditya was not himself a Buddhist, but he was a catholic ruler who thought it his duty to provide religious buildings for his Buddhist subjects, as much as for his Hindu subjects and for himself.
Lalitaditya appears to have been more inclined towards Vaishnuism when his new capital was built, for among the magnificent Hindu buildings mentioned by Kalhana, as having been built at Parihasapora by Lalitaditya, all are Vaisnavite and Buddhist, though the great Kashmir historian does mention the building of a number of Shiva shrines by his nobles, including one by his queen, Chakramardika. Or, was it because the ruler had already built a large number of Shiva temples, including eleven magnificent Shiva temples at Naran Nag, on the way to Harmukata-Ganga.
Be that as it may, Lalitaditya’s Vishnu shrines at Parihasapora were named (after himself) as Parihaskeshava, Muktakeshava and Goverdhanandhara. The last one have left its name to part of the Paraspor udar (Karewa) which is even now known as Gurdan. In these were placed colossal statues of Vishnu made of silver and brass, and a number of smaller images of gold.
The Buddhist shrines, built perhaps under the influence of his Buddhist minister Chankuna from Tokharistan and his relations and countrymen included a Vihara, a Chaitya and a Stupa. According to two famous Persian scholars of Kashmir Mohd. Azim Dadmari and Pt. Narayan Kaul have mentioned in their chronicles about the existence of more than 50 feet high Buddhist Stupa in Parihasapora which was in excellent condition during their time.
Parihasapora Karewa is now a jumble of ruins, the noble edifices of Lalitaditya having fallen victim to the avarice of some of his immediate successors (Kalahan’s Rajtarangni) and finally to the iconoclastic zeal of Sikandar But-shiken.
The Parihasapora ruins were first identified by the great antiquary, Sir Mark Aurel Stein in 1892 A.D. He also excavated the ruins of the three Buddhist structures, a Chaitya, a Stupa and a Vihara. The vihara appears to be the one mentioned by Kalhana, and was known as Rajavihara. The Kashmir historian describes it as ever rich, as it was richly endowed.
Mention has been made of the broad ravine that cuts into the Paraspor Karewa from the south, it perhaps developed by the draining of rain waters from the flat-topped table and on its western side lie the ruins of two large temples, much decayed but considerably exceeding the dimensions of Lalitaditya’s Martand Temple. To its northeast lay a whole series of ruined structures, three of them more prominent than others. These have yet to be identified. That is perhaps why the then Governor of Kashmir, Shri Jag Mohan, suggested excavations at the place when he visited it, to inaugurate a development project at Divar Yakhmanpor. Dr. Farooq Abdullah, who took over as Chief Minister, following Shri Jag Mohan’s direct administration of Jammu and Kashmir, also paid a visit to Paraspor soon after he took over and had sanctioned a sum of Rupees one Crore for the development of Parihasapora as a tourist attraction.
According to Kashmir’s celebrated archaeologist, Ram Chandra Kak, the Chaitya to the south of Rajyavihara was the one built by Lalitaditya. This noble edifice with a double base possessed some of the biggest blocks of stone ever used in Kashmir buildings. A single stone-block in the sanctum measures 14’x12’x5’. The sanctum measures 26 ft. square and most probably contained the colossal image of the Buddha which the king had got from Magadha during his conquering expeditions in the east. This was later replaced by another massive image of the Buddha, made of brass and weighing several hundred maunds, when the one brought from Magadha was given to the Tohkharian minister, Chankuna, at his request. The minister’s vihar is believed to lie north of the Rajyavihara. It contained a huge Stupa which was embellished with a number of golden images of the Buddha.
Lalitaditya is the solitary ruler in the long annals of India, who successfully carried his arms far beyond the country’s borders in the north, not once but many times. He set much store by one of his victories and instituted a big festival in its commemoration. Known as Sahasrabkakta a thousand mendicants and religious men were fed and given dakshinas at it. The people too were proud of their warrior-king and celebrated the event on the second of Chaitya every year down to the time of the Muslim writer Al-Biruni, who mentions it in his account of India.
Kashmir is the one state in the Union of India, half of whose area is still Buddhist-dominated, though sparsely populated. And now that the Government of India is keen to attract people from the neighbouring Buddhist countries in ever-increasing number, it is but proper that ancient Buddhist spots in Kashmir which played such a conspicuous part in the propagation and spread of the faith in neighbouring countries, should be brought to their notice. But since they are mostly in ruins they have to be developed first. Accordingly the Rajyavihara at Parihasapora will have to be reconstructed or better still a new one built in its vicinity. This would also serve the religious needs of the Ladakhis, who at present do not have a place of worship anywhere in Kashmir.
A number of sculptures from Parihasapora are to be found in the Partap Singh Museum, Srinagar. According to Kak, the Parihasapora ruins are the impressive memorials of the king’s ‘generous patronage of art and his religious enthusiasm.’ About the magnificent edifices that he erected on the Karewa he says that if they had survived in their enti-rety, they would have surpassed in grandeur all the ancient buildings of Kashmir, including the far-famed temple of Martanda.
If the trough under the huge stone block in Lalitaditya’s Chaitya is excavated it is bound to throw up a lot of material which will shed a flood of light on the art and culture, including literature, of ancient Kashmir. This is an added reason why thorough excavations should be carried out at the place. |
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