Shankaracharya Temple, Srinagar
— — the oldest stones in the valley, still in use.
Not only on a wall.
“A small grey-stone Shiva shrine on the top of Shankaracharya Hill, the limestone ridge that closes the south-east end of Dal Lake. The hill rises about 300 metres above the valley floor; the temple sits at roughly 1,860 metres and is the oldest building still in worship in Srinagar. Local tradition holds that Adi Shankara stayed here in the 8th or 9th century, though the platform and parts of the wall are older — Hindu sources place the original shrine in the 3rd or 2nd century BCE. The steps up the south face are open from dawn. The view down to the lake is what people stay for.
Shankaracharya Temple, Srinagar, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Shankaracharya Temple stands on the summit of Shankaracharya Hill, a limestone outlier of the Zabarwan range that closes the south-eastern end of the Srinagar valley above Dal Lake. The hill rises about 300 metres above the lakeshore; the temple platform sits at roughly 1,860 metres above sea level. In older Kashmiri texts the hill is called Gopadari or Gopa Hill, and the shrine is also known as Jyesteshwara. A motor road climbs most of the way; the final 240 stone steps are walked. The site is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India and is in continuous Hindu worship, dedicated to Shiva.
The shrine is built of large dressed limestone blocks set without mortar, on an octagonal terrace reached by twin staircases. The cella is square, about three metres on a side, with a stone Shiva lingam at the centre. The construction is older than the dedication name implies: parts of the plinth and the outer wall have been dated to the early centuries of the common era or earlier, with significant rebuilding under Lalitaditya Muktapida in the 8th century and again under the Sikh governor Sher Singh in the 19th. Adi Shankara is said to have meditated here during his Kashmir visit in the 8th or 9th century, which is how the temple came to carry his name.
The temple is open daily from about 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is reached from Boulevard Road along the south shore of Dal Lake; the access road climbs about 5 kilometres through pine and deodar to a small parking apron, from which the 240 steps lead up. Cameras and phones are not permitted inside the security gate near the summit, a rule managed by the Central Reserve Police Force; bags are searched. Entry to the shrine itself is free. Most visitors come in the morning for the light over the lake, or at dusk when the city below begins to lamp up. The hill is also called Takht-e-Suleiman in Kashmiri tradition.