The temple is dedicated to the Hindu god, Shiva and located in Pattan, in the Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir, India.

The temple was built by king Shankaravarman of the Utpala dynasty of Kashmir, who ruled between 883 and 902 AD.

His father Avantivarman had established the Utpala dynasty and after his death in 883 his son succeeded him.

[1][5][6][excessive citations] The temple's entrance porch, facing east, exhibits intricately sculpted carvings both on its exterior fascia as well as in the interior surfaces, and appears as if they are freshly chiseled and carved though built in late ninth century.

The plinth of the temple, and of the shrine next to it, is built in a peristyle, an open colonnaded pattern, within a walled enclosure, which is in the form of a cellular passage, remnants of which are still visible.