Gop Temple
Gop Temple | |
---|---|
ગોપનું મંદિર | |
6th century Sun temple | |
Religion | |
Affiliation | Hinduism |
District | Jamnagar district |
Deity | Surya,Skanda, others[1] |
Location | |
Location | Zinavari village, Jamjodhpur Taluka |
State | Gujarat |
Country | India |
Geographic coordinates | 22°1′43″N69°55′44″E/ 22.02861°N 69.92889°E |
Architecture | |
Style | Hindu temple architecture |
Completed | 6th century CE[2] |
TheGop templeis a Sun temple located at Zinavari village in Jamjodhpur Taluka ofJamnagar district,Gujarat,India. TheHindu templeis dated to the 6th century and is one of the earliest surviving stone temples in Gujarat.[2][3]The original temple had a square plan, a mandapa and covered circumambulation passage which are lost, and a pyramidal masonry roof which is ruined but whose partial remains have survived.[2]The temple has a height of 23 feet (7.0 m) which includes a small tower. The roof of the tower is decorated with arch-likegavakshawindow shapes below anamalakacogged wheel-shaped crown.
Location
[edit]It is located on the bank of Vartu river and south-west of the Gop hill of Barda Hills. The Zinavari village is also known as Juna or Nana Gop and is located east of Gop village. It is located north ofGhumli,on a hill top.[4][3]
History
[edit]The ancient temple of Gop is considered the earliest surviving stone temple ofSaurashtra,Gujarat.[3][4]Burgess in 1876 estimated that it not later than 6th century.[4]Sankalia states that the temple belongs to the 5th century but not earlier thanUparkot caves of Junagadhbased on theKahu-Jo-DarrostupaofMirpurkhas.[5]The temple is generally dated to late 6th century (575-600 CE).[2][6]
K. V. Soundara Rajan assigned the first half of the 7th century.[7][8]The most probable date considered now is the last quarter of 6th century (Maitrakaperiod) to the first half of the 7th century.[9]The temple is a protected monument byArcheological Survey of Indiaand is designated asa Monument of National Importance(N-GJ-133).
Description
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/600_CE_Gop_Surya_temple%2C_Zinavari_Gujarat_plan%2C_1876_sketch.jpg/220px-600_CE_Gop_Surya_temple%2C_Zinavari_Gujarat_plan%2C_1876_sketch.jpg)
The temple has a square plan to which were added bricked double courtyards centuries later. The temple was bigger and included a mandapa and a roofedpradakshina-patha(circumambulation passage), but most of it was damaged and has fallen away leaving a peculiar looking skeletal structure. The sanctum walls remain standing and parts above theshikhara.[A]The shrine is 10 feet 9 inches square from inside. It is 23 feet high and has 2 feet 6 inches thick walls. The walls are plain without any ornamentation and perpendicular to height till 17 feet and over it survives the pyramidalshikhara.Each course is about 8 inches deep and is jointed. Thus it is built from stones without any kind of cement. At 11 feet from the floor, there are four holes in the front and back walls, each 14 inches high, probably for joists; and over them, in side walls, are six smaller holes, probably for rafters. The sanctum faces the east. Its front wall fell and seems rebuilt at someone with the inner sides of the stones turned out, showing the sockets of the clamps with which the stones had been secured. There is an inscription on the leftjambof the door which Burgess was unable to decipher.[4][10]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Gop_Sun_temple_Zinavari_Gujarat_roof_north.jpg/220px-Gop_Sun_temple_Zinavari_Gujarat_roof_north.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Inscription_on_the_left_jamb_of_the_door_of_temple_at_Gop%2C_Gujarat.png/220px-Inscription_on_the_left_jamb_of_the_door_of_temple_at_Gop%2C_Gujarat.png)
Theshikhara(spire) is formed by six or seven courses having beveled edges followed by square faces and at last the apex covered by single slab. It follows corbel principle, the interior is hollow. From outside, it rises in tiers having three clear divisions. The lowest division has twogavakshasor arch-shaped motifs on each side, with some images carved in. The apex is crowned by a single stoneamalaka(stone disc) on it. Some figures on the Shikhara are identifiable. There isa Ganeshafigure still visible in the west side and anotherDevafigure on the north side. There are a series of holes 21⁄2feet below the string-course which supported beams that once supported the roof of inner courtyard.[4][10][11]
Of the two courtyards, the inner courtyard is mostly broken. It was 35 feet 2 inches square with bay on the east side 18 feet 4 inches by 7 feet 3 inches. It may have served asparikramapath so it issandhara(with circumambulatory path) type of temple. The basement of it was decorated on all four sides by one niche in the centre and one each at the corners. These are empty, but likely had sculptures inside. The stretch between these niches was ornamented with small figures such as dwarfs. The outer courtyard was about 91⁄2feet wide. It was probably open above or at least laterally.[4][10]
There are two figures of deities in yellow stone inside the shrine. It can not be decided who are they exactly. They are locally known asRamaandLakshaman.The Ram figure has high squareMukutaor head-dress while Lakshamana has low crown, long ear-rings, ringlets and holds spear in right hand.[4]The temple features iconography ofVishnu,Skandha,Surya(the solar deity) and the temple has been locally called Surya Mandir. The site also shows iconography ofShivaism,with evidence that Hindu monks lived here.[4][11]
Influences and resemblances
[edit]The temple is an unusual architectural variation on the Nagara style. It has resemblances with early Dravidian temples ofPattadakalandAihole.It also have similarities with temples ofKashmirin the arrangement of roof and the trefoil niches on the outside wall of the inner courtyard.[12]Such temples includeMartand Sun Temple,Pandrethan and Payar temples though all of them are later than 8th century.Guptaperiod temples, the temple is on high and square plinth,jagati,with a projection on the east. But the plinth is much higher and is made of heavy blocks of stone which is characteristic local form.[13]The temple haschaitya-windows similar toUparkot caves of Junagadhbut they had lost their use asvedikaso they must have evolved later. The sculpture ofKahu-Jo-Darrostupa ofMirpurkhashas similarities with sculptures of Gop temple. As it is dated 4th to 5th century, the Gop temple may have belonged to similar period.[4]Theradiocarbon datingof the wood beam from the temple dating has confirmed its age of 550 AD.[11]
Notes and references
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Sara L. Schastok (1985).The Śāmalājī Sculptures and 6th Century Art in Western India.BRILL Academic. pp. 75 with footnotes.ISBN90-04-06941-0.
- ^abcdUlrich Wiesner (1978).Nepalese Temple Architecture: Its Characteristics and Its Relations to Indian Development.BRILL Academic. pp. 47–48 with footnotes.ISBN90-04-05666-1.
- ^abcSusan Verma Mishra; Himanshu Prabha Ray (5 August 2016).The Archaeology of Sacred Spaces: The Temple in Western India, 2nd Century BCE–8th Century CE.Routledge. pp. 108–109.ISBN978-1-317-19374-6.;Quote: "The earliest image in the region can be dated to the fourth century CE and a worn out figure at the temple of Gop dates to between 525 and 550 CE".
- ^abcdefghiJames Burgess(1876).Report on the Antiquities of Kutch & Kathiawar: Being the Result of the Second Season's Operations of the Archaeological Survey of Western India, 1874-1875.London: India Museum. p. 187.Retrieved27 August2016.
Alt URLArchived2016-08-29 at theWayback MachineThis article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
- ^Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia (1941).The Archaeology of Gujarat: Including Kathiawar.Natwarlal & Company. pp. 55–59.[permanent dead link]Alt URLArchived2017-08-03 at theWayback Machine
- ^Jutta Jain-Neubauer (1 January 1981).The Stepwells of Gujarat: In Art-historical Perspective.Abhinav Publications. p. 14.ISBN978-0-391-02284-3.
- ^K. V. Soundara Rajan (1980).A Note on the Age of Gop Temple inGlimpses of Indian Culture: History & Archaeology.Sundeep. pp. 196–199.
- ^Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology.Brill Archive. p. 90.ISBN90-04-03691-1.
- ^Sompura, Kantilal F. (1968).The Structural Temples of Gujarat, Upto 1600 A.D.Gujarat University. pp. 75–76.
- ^abcUlrich Wiesner (1 January 1978).Nepalese Temple Architecture: Its Characteristics and Its Relations to Indian Development.BRILL. pp. 47–48.ISBN90-04-05666-1.
- ^Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta Sastri (1982).A Comprehensive History of India: pt. 1-2. A.D. 300-985.Orient Longmans. pp. 1156–1158.
- ^Prithvi Kumar Agrawala (1968).Gupta temple architecture.Prithivi Prakashan. p. 57.
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