#Thread
The Martand Sun Temple was built by Lalitaditya Muktapida, the third maharaja of Kashmir under the Karkota dynasty, in the 8th century AD. While it has been thought to have been built between 725–756 AD....

@LostTemple7

the foundation of the temple dates back to around 370–500 AD, with some attributing the construction of the temple to have begun with King Ranaditya,who ruled Kashmir around 223 CE. The construction of smaller panels around the main shrine is attributed to
Queen Amritprabha, his wife. It is believed that King Ranaditya built Martandeshwari temple in front of his Royal Palace in the city called Babul.

Some also believe that the foundation of Martand Surya Mandir was laid as early as between 370 and 500 CE.
Few claim that Samdhimati Aryaraja (35 BCE) built the Martand Surya Mandir.

Destruction:-

Martand Sun Temple was destroyed in early 15th century during the rule of Sikandar Butshikhan who was responsible for forced conversion of Hindus into Islam. .
He was also called the ‘Sikandar the Iconoclast’ or Sikandar Butshikan. He was the sixth sultan of Kashmir’s Shah Miri Dynasty. He ruled between 1389 to 1413.

It was Sikandar Shah Miri who was responsible for the destruction and desecration of the Hindu Martand Sun Temple.
It was a grand temple and it is said that it took him a dedicated team and one year to bring damage to the Martand Sun Temple. Many historians believe the theory that he ordered to fill the insides of the temple with timber and set it on fire.
Sikandar Butshikan was a religious bigot. Sufi saint, Mir Mohammad Hamadani influenced him to commit crimes on the then majority population, Hindus in a strategic move to convert them to Islam by force. As a result, many Hindus converted to Islam in large numbers.
Their descendants now live in Kashmir and identify themselves as Muslims. Those who refused to convert to Islam either fled Kashmir or were killed. It was not very different from the mass slaughter of Kashmiri Pandits in the 90s

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