Bumazuv Cave and Temples

The little village of Bumazuv is situated only a mile to the north of the sacred springs of Bavan (Matan). It contains the only im- portant group of artificial caves in Kashmir. They are very unpre- tentious excavations and only one of them possesses architectural interest. It is carved out of a large mass of limestone cliffs over- looking a scene of great beauty, comprising the whole of the lower section of the Lidar valley. The stone in which this excavation is made is of a very friable nature.

The facade of the gateway has, therefore, been built of stone masonry in lime. It consists of a single trefoil-arched doorway, surmounted by a pediment, and side walls. On the left-side wall is a small rectangular niche measuring 2' 1" by 1". Its pilasters are carved with floral scrolls of extraordinary delicacy. The lintel is ornamented with a row of rosettes and the cornice with a row of slightly projecting dentils, whose intervening spaces appear to have been filled with figures of dancing dwarfs, all of which are now defaced. In its interior is a small temple which is similar in style to other temples of Kashmir. It is 9' f square externally and stands on a base 4' 6^^ in height. A remarkable feature, which points to its being a decadent example, is the very slight projection of the porch. The corner pilasters have two rectangular niches.

In the village, at the foot of the cave, are two temples which have been converted into Muslim ziarats. Both of them are now covered with a thick coat of mud plaster, under which all the artistic and archi- tectural features are concealed. The larger temple now goes by the name of the Ziarat of Baba Bamdin Sahib, who is said to have been a disciple of Shaikh Nur-ud-din, the famous Muslim saint of Kashmir. The pyramidal roof is buried under a mound of earth which surmounts the modern square double wooden roof. The interior measures 8' square. The ceiling consists of overlapping stones, like that of the Pandrethan temple. The uppermost stone is carved with a full-blown lotus. The entrance is in the north wall. Unless the coat of plaster is removed it is impossible to say whether the temple was open on other sides.

To the west of this temple are the ruins of a smaller temple. The exterior of the roof is destroyed, but the ceiling inside is intact and is similar to the ceiling of the larger temple. Its porches are exact replicas of those of the cave temple, a fact which leads to the surmise that all three were built at about the same time.

The larger temple has been identified with the Bhimake^ava^ shrine built by Bhima Shahi of Gandhara, the maternal grandfather of Queen Didda, who ruled Kashmir as the wife of Kshemagupta from A.D. 950-958, and as sole sovereign from a.d. 980-1003.