The Sun Temple of Multan, also known as the Aditya Sun Temple, was an ancient Hindusun temple, that was the base of a sun worshipping sect dedicated to Surya, the HinduSun God, that is located in the city of Multan, modern dayPakistan. Ancient Multan was the centre of a solar-worshipping sect that was based at the temple. Some of the temple's appeal was derived from the belief that the temple's Aditya idol could cure maladies. The temple was highly revered, and was an object of pilgrimage for the Hindus from the region, even during the first centuries of Islamic rule. The large number of pilgrims, enriched the coffers of the new Muslim rulers of the region, as the Hindu pilgrims were taxed and their offerings confiscated. The temple's famous Aditya idol was destroyed in the late 10th century CE by Multan's new dynasty of Ismaili rulers. The temple was noted by the medieval Arab geographerAl-Muqaddasi to have been located in the most populous part of Multan, between the city's ivory and copper-smith bazaars.
History
The solar sect may have been derived from the worship of Mithra, an Indo-Iranian god, whose secret cult survived the spread of Zoroastrianism in Iran, while Mitra of the Rigveda lost its importance in India after Vedic period. The city of Multan may get its name from the Sanskrit name for the Sun idol and Sun temple, Mulasthana. The original Sun Temple at Multan is said to have been built by Samba, son of Krishna, to gain relief from the symptoms of his leprosy. Hsuen Tsang is said to have visited the temple in 641 AD, by which time the Multan Sun Temple was the most important sun temple in ancient India. Hsuen Tsang described an idol of the Sun God made of pure gold with eyes made from large red rubies. Gold, silver and gems were abundantly used in its doors, pillars and shikhara. Thousands of Hindus regularly went to Multan to worship the Sun God. Hsuen Tsang is also said to have seen several devadasis in the temple, and even refers to the Hindu festival celebrated in Multan in honor of the Hindu Sun God Surya. Travelers like Hsuen Tsang, Istakhari and others, mentioned other idols in their travelogue, saying that the idols of Shiva and Buddha were also installed in the temple. Al-Biruni visited Multan in the 11th Century and left a glowing description of the temple, though it had been destroyed by the time he visited the city.
Under Islamic rule
After the conquest of Multan by the Umayyad Caliphate in the 8th century AD it was destroyed and the original gold idol was taken away. The temple was rebuilt by local population and a wooden idol was placed in place of the original idol. Under the leadership of Muhammad bin Qasim, the Sun Temple was said to have been "carefully protected" by Multan's rulers. The temple was also used to ward off Hindu retaliators, as the Muslim rulers would threaten to destroy the revered idol in case of invasion. Multan's Sun Temple was noted to have accrued the early Muslim rulers large tax revenues from Hindu pilgrims. By some accounts, the temple accrued 30% of the state's revenues. Offerings brought by Hindu pilgrims, which were often very valuable, were forfeited to the city's rulers who used, sold, or gave the items away. During these early centuries of Islamic rule, the temple withstood local Islamic hostilities and still attracted Hindus from far and wide even after the Ghaznavids captured the region, which showed a strong Hindu presense still remaining in the area.
Destruction
The temple was destroyed by Multan's dynasty of new Ismaili rulers in the late 10th century, who in turn built an Ismaili congregational mosque atop the site after abandoning the city's old Sunni congregational mosque which had been built by the city's early Muslim rulers. The Ismaili mosque that had been built atop the Sun Temple's ruins was then in turn destroyed in the early 11th century by Mahmud of Ghazni. The Persian scholar Al-Biruni visited the site in the 11th century and noted that it was no longer visited by Hindu pilgrims as the site had laid in ruin without being rebuilt. Multan had come under the influence of the Ismaili Shias under the leader Jalam bin Shayban By the mid 900s. Shayban was a proselytizing Da'i of the Qarmatian sect that had been dispatched to the region upon the recommendation of Fatimid CaliphImam al-Mu'izz, to replace the city's rebellious Da'i whose views regarding Imam successor ship contrasted with those of the Fatimids. The Qarmatian sect which replaced the rebellious Da'i had been expelled from Egypt and Iraq following their defeat at the hands of the Abbasids there. Qarmatians zealots had famously sacked Mecca, and outraged the Muslim world with their theft and ransom of the Kaaba's Black Stone, and desecration of the Zamzam Well with corpses during the Hajj season of 930 CE.
