01The old capital
Pandrethan is the worn-down form of Puranadhishthana, the old seat, the capital of Kashmir before Pravarasena II built Pravarapura, the present Srinagar. Kalhana’s Rajatarangini records that Meruvardhana, a minister of King Partha in the early 10th century, built a temple of Vishnu called Meruvardhanaswami here, and many scholars take this temple to be it; others place the building a century or two earlier. Whatever its first dedication, it is worshipped and known today as a Shiva temple.
02Built in the water
The temple is a single square cella under a two-tiered pyramidal stone roof, with a trefoil arch over each doorway under a triangular pediment, the classic Kashmiri form. It stands in the middle of a tank fed by a spring near the Jhelum, so that the shrine is reached across water. Inside, the ceiling is carved as a lotus with flying figures in the corners. Photographs of the 1860s show it as it stands now, roof intact, which is rare in a valley where most temples lost their roofs to earthquakes and to destruction.
The life of this place
- early 10th centuryMeruvardhana, minister of King Partha, builds the Meruvardhanaswami temple at Puranadhishthana (Rajatarangini).
- 1860sPhotographed standing in its tank with the roof intact.
Inside the Badami Bagh cantonment on the Srinagar–Jammu highway, east of the city; entry may need permission at the cantonment gate. An ASI-protected monument.
