Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/295

BOOK II. ARCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS. CHAPTER I. KASHMIR. CONTENTS. Temples Martand Avantipur Buniar Pandrethan Malot. ALTHOUGH neither so beautiful in itself, nor so interesting either from an artistic or historical point of view as many others, the architecture of the valley of Kashmir has attracted more attention in modern times than that of almost any other style in India, and a greater number of special treatises have been written regarding it than are devoted to all the other styles put together. This arises partly from the beauty of the valley in which the Kashmiri temples are situated. The beauty of its scenery has at all times attracted tourists to its verdant snow- encircled plains, and the perfection of its climate has induced them to linger there, and devote their leisure to the investiga- tion of its treasures, natural and artistic. In this respect their fate is widely different from that of temples situated on the hot and dusty plains of India, where every official is too busy to devote himself to such a task, and travellers too hurried to linger for a leisurely and loving survey of their beauties. Apart, however, from this adventitious advantage, the temples of Kashmir do form a group well worthy of attention. When one or two spurious examples are got rid of, they form a complete and homogeneous group, extending through about five centuries (A.D. 600 to A.D. 1 100), singularly uniform in their development and very local, being unlike any other style known