Place · Karkota capital ruins · India
Parihaspora
The 8-century former capital of Kashmir at Parihaspora in Baramulla district, Jammu and Kashmir, 25 kilometres from Srinagar — the capital built by Karkota king Lalitaditya Muktapida (ruled 724-760 CE) as his imperial centre, with monumental Buddhist and Hindu temple complexes. The ruins include the 10,000-square-metre Parihasakeshava Vishnu temple (dedicated by Lalitaditya himself), the Rajavihara Buddhist monastery with its 54-metre square plinth, the Mahavihara (one of the largest known Buddhist monasteries in Kashmir), and the Parihaspora stupa (one of the few surviving brick stupas in Kashmir). Lalitaditya's imperial reach extended from Central Asia to Bengal in a decade of conquests (c.735-745 CE). The capital was abandoned after Lalitaditya's death and never reoccupied. ASI protection since 1911. The 1990s Kashmir conflict restricted access; the site reopened to visitors 2010.
- Function
- Archaeology & heritage
- Tradition
- Kashmir and Himalayan architectural history
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 34.100, 74.960
Connections (3)
- Companion in the same setAvantipora temples
Parihāsapura was Lalitāditya's Karkota capital in the eighth century and Awantipora Avantivarman's Utpala foundation in the ninth, and both are now mounds and plinths because their stone was carried off for later building. Kalhana's Rājatarangini describes both in detail, which makes Kashmir the one Indian region where a sustained historical narrative in Sanskrit can be set against the archaeology of the places it describes.
- PatronageLalitāditya Muktāpīḍa
Parihasapura was Lalitaditya's own foundation, named after himself, with a Buddhist stupa, a monastery and Vishnu temples in one plan, and Kalhana lists the gold and silver images he installed in them. The city was abandoned within a few reigns and quarried afterwards, which is why the site is a set of plinths and colossal blocks rather than a standing town.
- Site withinSrinagar
Parihaspora lies within Srinagar — the two sites sit about 15 km apart, well inside the city's historical boundary and part of the same urban or peri-urban landscape. Parihaspora is one of the specific sites that give Srinagar its layered character, and reads differently when seen as a stop within the larger city rather than as an isolated monument on an open map. The surrounding neighbourhoods, roads and other heritage ensembles belong to the same single urban fabric.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Parihaspore”. Epigraphia Indica and the Annual Reports on Indian Epigraphy (Archaeological Survey of India).
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