Avantiswami Temple, Avantipora

According to the ASI, Avantivarman ruled from about 855 to 883 CE and erected the Vishnu temple before he came to the throne, building the Shiva temple, Avantisvara, after gaining sovereignty. Wikipedia places the construction of the Avantiswami Temple around 853 to 855 CE. Avantipura served as his capital; Wikipedia records that locals call the ruins 'Pandav Lari', the house of the Pandavas.

The ASI states that the temples suffered large-scale destruction in medieval times. A feature in The Hindu reports the local account, given by guides at the site, that the destruction came during the reign of Sultan Sikandar (Sikandar Butshikan), in the 14th century.

In the early twentieth century the archaeologist D. R. Sahni carried out large-scale excavation, according to the ASI. He cleared the whole quadrangle down to the courtyard floor, exposed the surviving basement of the central shrine and the remains of the subsidiary shrines, and recovered 121 coins. At the companion Avantisvara temple he found a jar of 108 copper coins and fragments of birch-bark manuscripts recording items used in worship.

Architecture and sacred features

The ASI describes the original layout as a central temple in the middle of a large oblong courtyard, with four smaller shrines at its corners. A roofed peristyle with a row of cells ran around the edge of the paved court, entered through an imposing gateway. In front of the stairway to the central shrine stood an open pillared pavilion, which the ASI suggests may have held a Garuda standard.

Only the lower parts of the structures survive, but the gateway, the courtyard colonnade and the shrine plinth still carry finely carved pillars, panels and figure sculpture in stone.