Narastan Temple

This is a village situated a little over 20 miles from Avantipur and reached by a rough bridle-path. The road branches off from the Avantipur-Tral road and, skirting the barren hills on the left, debouches into the Arpal valley. From Arpal village Narastan is only 6 miles distant.

The temple (Plate LII), with the exception of the roof, is very well preserved, and possesses several interesting features. It is built on a single base which, unlike other examples of its kind, consists of only four instead of five courses of stones. The cornice is a plain, straightlined, filleted course, of which only the topmost fillet is rounded off into a cyma recta moulding. The base is, as usual, square. The corner pilasters project very slightly from the temple walls. In the middle of each wall is a trefoiled recess surmounted by a highpitched double pediment. This in turn is enclosed by a very shallow closed trefoiled arch, surmounted by a two-storied pediment. The capitals from which the pediments spring are crowned by human- headed birds, facing each other; they are very similar to those of Avantipur. The apex of the pediments is decorated with a squat human figure, which may represent Garuda.

An interesting feature of the temple is the novel treatment of the trefoil arches on the exterior of the shrine walls; the lower trefoil arch is usually shallow or closed, but the upper trefoil is deeply recessed. At Narastan the process has been reversed; the lower trefoil encloses a deeply recessed niche, whereas the upper arch is so shallow that it projects only 2 inches from the plain wall surface. Another remarkable feature is the absence of a circumambulatory path on top of the base, which is a universal feature in temple bases of this size in Kashmir.

The shrine is reached from the courtyard by a flight of four steps. The pilasters of the side-walls of the staircase are adorned with shallow trefoil arches from the apex of which hang two swags of beaded garlands.

The portico projects about 4 feet from the temple wall. Its outer surface is plain except for two pairs of human-headed birds which adorn the capitals. The inner walls of the pilasters are decorated with two pedimental niches, each of which contains the six-armed figure of a goddess. The upper two hands hold a pitcher and a full-blown lotus; the middle two were probably crossed over the breast; and the lower two hang downwards, but the objects they hold are too defaced to be identified. There are miniature fluted columns, standing on bases and surmounted by capitals like those of Avantipur, on each side of the niche. Underneath them are three similar niches containing atlantes.

Internally the temple cell is 8 feet 6 inches square. It faces south and contained a Siva-linga. Its walls are quite plain except for a string- course at a height of 7 feet 6 inches from the floor, which resembles somewhat the cornice of the plinth outside, and a small double-pedimented niche on the east wall, the upper pediment of which is decorated with the carved figure of a kneeling human being. The left pilaster of the niche is only half-carved, which is another illustration of the method of work of the ancient sculptors who were accustomed to carving large stone blocks in situ. Unlike most of the other temples, this one does not possess a ceiling. The walls rise perpendicularly until the level of the eaves is reached. From this point they begin to contract. Each course is made to project slightly beyond the one below it, until at last the space became so narrow as to be spanned by one square stone, upon which doubtless was placed a finial.

The courtyard is 70 feet square. It is surrounded by a wall which is unornamented except for a plain filleted string-course at about 2 feet from the ground, a pedimental trefoiled niche in the west wall, and a recess 3 feet square. It is roofed over by a coping of sloping stones which rest on a cornice similar to the string-course below. There is a small side entrance near the south-western angle of the enclosure wall. In front of the temple stairs is a square tank about 8' square and over 2 feet deep. An elaborate stone conduit poured water into it. The spout of the conduit is carved in front with a full-blown Iotus through the centre of which the water flows; its sides are decorated with grinning makara heads. Above the spout is a stone platform 12 feet by 6 feet 3 inches, which probably served as a bathing place, and in summer would be an admirable place for an afternoon siesta, the more so as the water-conduit runs through its centre. From the tank a drain conducts the water to a chamber in the south-eastern corner of the enclosure wall, whence it makes its final exit from the temple yard. This chamber is 9 feet 6 inches by 12 feet 3 inches, and is entered through a narrow doorway 5 feet 8 inches by 1 feet 6 inches. It has a small trefoiled pedimented window 1 feet 3 inches by 1 feet pierced in the wall at a height of 3 feet 1 inches above the ground. It probably served as the bathroom of female worshippers.

Only a few feet to the north of this chamber is a small shrine 2 feet 10 inches square internally. It has a sloping roof and its ceiling was of superimposed squares like that of the Pandrethan temple.

Exactly opposite the sanctum in the middle of the south wall is the gateway. It consists as usual of a double chamber, each measuring 7 feet by 4 inches, connected by a doorway. Each of the chambers was faced by a pair of half-engaged round columns. The lintel of the doorway was, on the outside, carved with a row of crenellations alternating with squares surmounted by lozenges.

The temple is built of greyish limestone and was originally covered with a thick coat of lime plaster, traces of which still exist.