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The Kashmir Timeline

Martand Sun Temple

The grandest temple of ancient Kashmir, now a ruin.

Martand Sun Temple photograph

Photo: Varun Shiv Kapur from New Delhi, India · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Built for Surya, the sun god, the temple stands in the middle of a large courtyard lined with small shrines under a colonnade. Its trefoil arches, fluted columns and triangular pediments are the high point of Kashmir's stone architecture. Earthquakes and deliberate damage over the centuries left it roofless.

Facts

  • Kalhana credits its construction to Lalitaditya Muktapida.
  • The courtyard is enclosed by a colonnade of fluted columns with small shrines behind it.
  • It is a protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India.