Martand Sun Temple

"At the village of Mar-tund, or ‘the Sun’... is the most holy spring in Kashmir, called, par excellence, Bawun, ot spring. It is said that, after the valley was dried, small hills and caves appeared, and that Kashuf Rishi walked about in the greatest delight; that he accidentally found an egg (the mundane egg of the Hindus) shining most brilliantly, which he picked up. He broke it in his hand, and from it flowed the springs of Bawun or Maha Martund, sacred, of course, to Vishnu...Houses of Hindus surround the small tank which is formed near it ..."

"The British army explorer, Francis Younghusband (1816- 1942) pronounced the temple as “... the finest structure, typical of Kashmir architecture at its best, built on the most sublime site occupied by any building in the world ~ far finer than the site of the Parthenon, or of the Taj, or of St. Peters, or of the Escurial — we may take it as the representative, or rather the culmination of all the rest, and by it we must judge the people of Kashmir at their best”"

"Aurel Stein, after a visit to the site assessed it as, “the most striking remains which have survived of the ancient architecture of Kashmir.” Even at that time, he found the tirtha “one of the most celebrated pilgrimage-places in the Valley,” that annually attracted visitors from all parts of India."

"On a perfectly open and even plain, gently sloping away from a background of snowy mountains looking directly out on the entire length both of the Kashmir valley and of the snowy ranges, which bound it—so situated in fact as to be encircled, yet not overwhelmed by snowy mountains—stand the ruins of a temple second only to the Egyptian in massiveness and strength and to the Greek in elegance and grace. It is built of immense rectilinear blocks of limestone, betokening strength and durability … any overweighing sense of massiveness is relieved by the elegance of the surrounding colonnade of graceful Greek-like pillars … no one without an eye for natural beauty would have chosen that special site for the construction of a temple and no one with an inclination to the ephemeral and transient would have built it on so massive and enduring a scale … Of all the ruins in Kashmir the Martand ruins are both the most remarkable and the most characteristic. No temple was ever built on a finer site. It stands on an open plain, where it can be seen to full advantage. Behind it rises a range of snowy mountains. And away in the distance before it, first lies the smiling Kashmir valley, and then the whole length of the Pir Panjal range, their snowy summits mingling softly with the azure of the sky. It is one of the most heavenly spots on earth … the finest example of what is known as the Kashmirian [sic] style of architecture … the most sublime site occupied by any building in the world—finer far than the site of the Parthenon or of the Taj, or of St. Peters, or of the Escurial—we may take it as the representative, or rather the culmination of all the rest, and by it, we must judge the people of Kashmir at their best."

"Sultan Sikander under the direct instructions of Mir Mohammad Hamadani took to the idol-breaking as fish take to water. The Muslim chroniclers gleefully designated him as an iconoclast for his demolition and destruction of the marvellous temples of Martand, Vijayesan, Chakrabrat, Tripuresvar, Suresvari, Varaha and others. The temple of Martand (sun), a gem of the Hindu architecture symbolising the high watermark of the Hindu culture and civilisation, was destroyed by digging deep its foundations, removing the well-chiselled foundational stones, filling the gaping wounds with logs of wood and finally putting it to flames."