King Chandrapir is said to have reigned in Kashmir during the 7th century A.D. Known for his bravery and keen sense of justice, he was also called ‘Vajraditya' by his subjects. He built a temple in Srinagar dedicating it to Tribhuvanaswami, another name for Lord Vishnu. There is a legend associated with the building of this temple.
The story goes that when Chandrapir decided to build this temple, he asked experts to find a suitable site and also prepare a design how it would look like when it was built. The builders got busy planning, while another team went scouting for the best possible site - not a very easy task in the mountainous region of Kashmir! Finally, they located what seemed to be the ideal spot from every point of view. King Chandrapir went and saw it and asked them to go ahead.
But there was something the king was not aware of. And certainly no one told him anything about it. The plan of the temple included a portion of land that belonged to a poor cobbler. Perhaps the royal builders did not consider him important enough to be consulted and took it for granted that they could simply pay him some money and ask him to clear out when the time came. Or they might have thought that whatever a poor cobbler felt did not matter when it came to a massive project like a temple. They simply ignored him and went ahead with their work. The temple of Tribhuvanaswami, nearly ready, was indeed a thing of beauty and everyone who passed by admired it and looked forward to the day it would be thrown open for worship. The cobbler, not even dreaming that his hut would soon be pulled down to complete a corner of the temple, was happy too. But he got a rude shock when the royal builders landed up before his hut one morning and told him to clear out to make room for the great temple.
"But how can I?" he cried "It is the land of my forefathers. It belongs to me, not the king." "Land indeed! It is no more than a hut," they said, jeering at him. "Anyway, the king wants the temple there, so you have to get out - no point arguing about it. We can't wait all day!"
"I don't believe you," said the cobbler. "King Chandrapir is just and kind. He would never make a poor man homeless."
"Stupid fool! Who says he'll render you homeless?" said the builders annoyed. "We'll pay you money and you can go and build a hut elsewhere. Somewhere in the forest or among the rocks."
