Many travellers travel between Srinagar and Pahalgam, but few venture to the Martand Temple, a site of 1400 year old temple ruins located a few kilometers inside the main road. The Martand Temple site is maintained by ASI, and the entry is free. You need to tell the names of the visitors at the entry counter before entering the vast campus.
From a distance, you can see the campus of The Martand temple, and as you walk towards it, the beauty and the grandeur of the ruins becomes more visible, drowning the visitor in awe and wonder.
The stone ‘devri’ used in the construction of the temple is remarkably different, easily observable to even our unlearned but experienced eyes.
Climbing the steps, you enter the main courtyard of the temple, and your breath is taken away both literally by the XXL size steps, and figuratively by the grandiose of the remaining temple walls. Some of the figurines still show their beauty even after centuries of suffering from elements.
There is a big square well like structure at the front of the steps. Even though the roof is long gone, the walls of the main temple still stand tall, and so does the surrounding mandap.
The temple is built in a Panchayatan style, a group of five temples, one main temple in center and four smaller temples, one each at the four corners. I read that the remaining four temples were added at a later time.
The ruins are in excellent condition, and I highly recommend any travellers with slightest interest in history or architecture to visit the site, irrespective of their religion. There is no idol in the sanctum, but it needs little imagination to close eyes and travel back to the golden period of the temple. What a time it would have been! I hope someday technology gets advanced enough to let us witness the past glories of the temple in a virtual world.
This ancient temple is shockingly and shamelessly displayed as ‘Devil’s cave’ or ‘Shaitan ki Gufa’ in a recent flop movie. Even the locals who were present mentioned that it was malicious and improper.
There are a few touches by ASI that need appreciation. Firstly, the seating benches provided in the campus are not simple blocks of granite, but they too are itched in the design of Srinagar’s chinar leaf symbol.
Secondly, there was in information panel in braille! Seeing the braille information board at such a historical but bit off the map location brought me great joy. It is a sign of a healthy society to think and care for its lesser blessed members.
The road strated winding upwards towards Pahalgam – the Valley of Shepherds, as informed by a welcome board. There was a halt on the road, where there was a handwritten sign ‘Drinking water’. It was an outlet for spring waters by way of pipes, offering a continuous flowing stream of icy cold water to all passerbys. The taste of the water was great, but the greenish hue at the bottom of the pipe was slightly worrying to overcautious eyes! We also passed by a sad sight of beautiful but depilated Kashmiri houses that were once sprawling with Kashiri Pandits.
As the car kept climbing, the temperature needle kept falling below, and soon we were standing near the JKTDC Alpine hotel, which was located at an uphill climb from the road.
This photo is clicked from the hotel porch, looking down at the hill that we climbed. The road can be seen in front of the green houses in distance.
The attendants hauled up our luggage from the car to the room. The JKTDC hotel is spread over vast campus. There are many 1/2/3 BHK huts, which as standalone units having their own kitchens with some equipment too. We stayed in the Alpine hotel, which had a proper restaurant. Tourists staying in other huts too would have to come to Alpine hotel dining room for meals.
We met a number of tourists at dinner in the hotel’s dining room. A majority had come with a Pune based tour company. Some of them were staying in far off huts, and were thoroughly pissed off making their way toward the main hotel for dinner, and were worried to walk back again in the night towards their hut. We thanked our decision to book room in a hotel with a restaurant than some hut where we would have to depend on room service or walk down to a restaurant.
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