Remnants of an old glory

Home to the ruins of a 9th-century Vishnu temple, Avantipor, or modern-day Avantipora is a nondescript town by the Jammu-Srinagar highway. It rarely features on guidebooks or travel itineraries. Our driver, Bilal, is surprised when we express an interest in the Avantisami ruins, but happily offers to make a pit stop.

We arrive at Avantipora on our way back to Srinagar (35 km away) from Pahalgam — long after the green valleys and the blue Lidder River have disappeared, the apple orchards have been left behind, and a little before we cross the saffron fields of Pampore.

The sun had begun its descent when we reach the site, which has been maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India ever since it was unearthed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A well-laid garden, with roses and lilies in bloom, leads to a flight of stairs that descends to the excavated site. Fir trees line the periphery, beyond which are neat rows of wooden houses. The temple was built on the banks of the Jhelum, which has now changed its course and flows far from the ruins.

A series of columns is all that remains at what was once an impressive gateway to a Vishnu temple. Flanked by a flight of stairs, the columns still hold traces of intricately carved relief sculptures — of the navagrahas (nine planets) and other deities. The temple complex belongs to the popular Nagara style of architecture — it stands on a raised platform — similar to the Martand sun temple (about 35 km away) and the Khajuraho temples in distant Madhya Pradesh.

The Avantisami complex is said to have comprised a central Vishnu temple, surrounded by four smaller temples. The main sanctum sits on a pedestal. Most of the upper structure is lost, barring the pedestal, the supporting walls and the parapets along the stairs leading to it.

The carvings on the walls and parapets are intricate. The figurines represent Kamdev (god of desire), and the temple’s founder, King Avantivarman, his queen and attendants.

Little remains of the surrounding four temples and the other ancillary ones along the periphery. Like Lego blocks, pieces of stone slabs and pillars lie strewn across the complex. An open space between the main sanctum and entrance is believed to have housed a statue of Vishnu’s mount, Garuda.

Treasures in Stone: Columns with carvings of the nine planets and other deities

While Feroz, our guide, is unsure of the fate of this statue, most of the others have ended up at Srinagar’s Sri Pratap Singh Museum, with the notable exception of the Vishnu idol from the main sanctum. This statue, made of precious metals, is believed to have been taken away by the British.

As we get busy clicking pictures of the ruins, Feroz tells us that the temple complex was damaged by an earthquake. Adding to the vagaries of nature was the neglect of the rulers who followed King Avantivarman. Founder of the Utpala dynasty (which ruled Kashmir Valley during AD 855-1000), Avantivarman is believed to have been a kind and just king who also diverted the course of the Jhelum to prevent flooding.

The devout king revived Sanskrit learning in Kashmir. Besides new towns and the Avantisami temple, he also built a temple dedicated to Shiva — the Avantiswara temple. He followed in a long line of Shaivist rulers, who believed in the need to attain the supreme state of Siva-consciousness.

Imagining what an architectural beauty the temple would have been during its days of glory takes me back to Srinagar: An Architectural Legacy , an Intach guide by theatre director Feisal Alkazi, where he writes about the impact of Kashmir’s chequered history on its culture and architecture. These ruins on the foothills of mountains are not as breathtaking as the rolling meadows of the Betaab Valley we had seen earlier in the day, or the mighty Apharwat peak in Gulmarg we had stood on the day before. Avantipora isn’t even as well-known as the ruins of the Martand sun temple, less than an hour away, but it is worth your time and fuel for the brief introduction it offers to Kashmir’s rich cultural heritage. A heritage whose glory is now mostly restricted to the walls of the Sri Pratap Singh Museum (established in 1898 by Maharaja Pratap Singh of the Dogra dynasty).

Our guide narrates the temple’s history in one breath and asks if we would like to click some pictures. The sun has set by now, lighting up the sky in brilliant hues, just in time for the call for prayers from the mosque next door.

Barsali Bhattacharyya is a freelance writer based in Delhi

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