LODUV TEMPLE
The temple roof is sharp and straight. This style was vogue in 8th century AD. The comparative study of ancient temples of Kashmir reveals that Loduv is the earliest extant stone temple of Kashmir, erected on a hillock in Loduv village. Surprisingly the temple has neither been mentioned by Kalhana, nor finds any mention in early Chinese accounts of Kashmir. The temple has been mentioned for the first time by 19th century European visitors. The first description of the temple has been given by Vinge and Courie in 1866.
Lodu temple lies at a distance of 16 kms from Srinagar, on the National Highway between Pampore and Khrew, in the Loduv village. It stands in the middle of a shallow tank of water, which is fed by a spring to its North East. The temple has a unique circular plan (exceptional in contemporary Kashmiri temples) and bears striking similarities with the Guniyar temple in Swat. This style of architecture came to an end around 6th century AD, therefore the temple cannot be dated later than the early years of the Karkota dynasty, perhaps even to the late 6th or early 7th century. The smaller size of individual stones and a simpler type of trefoil niche also supports an earlier date. Loduv temple represents some of the typical Kashmiri features like trefoil niche, rounded projecting stone courses along the base and the elevated platform. The corbelled corners of the temple that imply a lantern ceiling, suggests that the temple once included a pyramidal roof also. It appears that some additions to the temple were made later, like doorways. These doorways include an inner door with another trefoil niche above the lintel.
Externally the walls are devoid of beautification, reaching a height of 10 feet from the ground level. There is a moulding at the corner between the ceiling and the top of wall. It consists of three rows of stone ornamented with projecting fillets. The corner pillars are rather bare and protrude only very faintly from the walls. The dome resembles the ceiling of the larger temples at Wangat and was built of protruding courses of Kanjur in lime. The Loduv Temple bears similarity with the Shankaracharya Temple on the Takht-e-Sulaiman Hill (Shankaracharya Hill). Other attractions comprise a mosque and a small temple on the hilltop.
