The village Tapar is situated at a distance of 35 km from Srinagar. The village is divided into three parts, Peth Tapar (upper Tapar), Bun Tapar (lower Tapar) and Takta Tapar (proper Tapar) and is referred to by Kalhana in his Rajatarangini as ancient Pratapapura, a town built by Pratapaditya II of the Karkota dynasty.
The base of the temple is externally 18.44 m broad and 18.44 m long. It is 2.43 m high from the level of the courtyard and its wall is 1.21 m thick. On the rear side of the base, the traces of the superstructure are existing up to a height of 2.07 m. Each side consists of 5 courses. The top course of the cornice, projecting about 1.14 m, seems to have served as a circumambulatory passage. Second, from the top is cyma recta, 3rd a regular, 4th and 5th are again cyma recta. The temple appears to have been of Vimana type facing east. The staircase leading to the cella proper is in the middle of the eastern wall. It is 3.96 m wide and contains 8 steps corresponding to those of the gateway. The rise and tread of steps are 0.35 m to 0.47 m. Of these only the lowest is in existence. The flank walls of the staircase are 1.33 m thick. These are adorned with niches on each inside face containing images of gods and goddesses. In the excavation, traces of stone platforms in the courtyard were noticed on all three sides. It measured 22.86 x 22.86 m. It indicated that the temple in the courtyard was surrounded by two enclosures, inner and outer. The platform had square holes 0.22 m deep from which one could infer that the inner enclosure was wooden and posts were fixed in these holes.
The inner enclosure was in turn surrounded by an outer enclosure of which only the plinth has survived. It was originally built of stone and wood, stone in the sub-structure and wood in the superstructure. The wooden superstructure contained halls for reading, a library and rooms serving as dwellings for the students and the staff of the temple. Earthen jars found on the plinth of the outer enclosure wall as well as in the courtyard proved that the wooden structure was meant for accommodation for persons attached to the temple.
Prataspawamy temple resembles all other temples of Kashmir in the massiveness of the materials used and simplicity of style. The abundance of the kanjoor stones encountered in the excavation around the main temple is positive proof that the ceiling of the temple was domical and pyramidal. The excavations also yielded important antiquities which included burnt birch leaves, stone images, a stone pedestal with an image of Garuda, earthen jars, inscriptions and pottery.
The Persian chronicler Hassan in his Tarikh clearly says that the temple at Tapar was built by Pratapaditya and it was destroyed by Sikander and that its material was utilized by Zain-ul-Abidin for constructing the embankment from Inderkote to Sopore. Thus it appears to be reasonable to conclude that the temple was originally constructed by Pratapaditya and that a wooden structure built was burnt to ashes and repaired afterwards with the brick material in the time of Parmanandi as is referred to in the inscription found at Tapar.
This temple complex was totally buried under the ground and was excavated in 19421.
1 R.C Agrawal, Kashmir and its Monumental Glory (New Delhi: Aryan Books International, 1998), 112-115.