Gop Temple

Gop Temple
ગોપનું મંદિર

View of the temple from north-west, 1874
Gop temple
Gop temple
Location in Gujarat
Alternative names Gop Sun Temple
General information
Type Temple
Location Zinavari village, Jamjodhpur Taluka, Jamnagar district, Gujarat
Country India
Coordinates 22°1′43″N 69°55′44″E / 22.02861°N 69.92889°E / 22.02861; 69.92889Coordinates: 22°1′43″N 69°55′44″E / 22.02861°N 69.92889°E / 22.02861; 69.92889
Height 23 feet
Technical details
Material Sandstone
Designations ASI Monument of National Importance (N-GJ-133)
Gop Temple

Plan of temple
Culture
Primary deity See text
Direction and posture East-facing
Architecture
Architectural styles Early Hindu temple with several influences
Number of temples 1
Inscriptions Yes
History and governance
Date built 575-650 AD

The ancient temple of Gop is located at Zinavari village of Jamjodhpur Taluka of Jamnagar district, Gujarat, India. It is dated 575-650 AD, one of the earliest surviving stone temple in Gujarat.[1] It has Gandhara architecture influences and resemblances to north and south Indian temples. The temple has a square shrine surrounded by double courtyards. It has peculiar spire.

Location

It is located on the bank of Vartu river and south-west of the Gop hill of Barda Hills. There is a temple dedicated to Shiva known as Gopeshwar or Gopnath on the top of the hill. the caverns of the hill houses Hindu ascetics. The Zinavari village is also known as Juna or Nana Gop and is located east of Gop village. It is located north of Ghumli.[2][3]

History

The ancient temple of Gop is considered the earliest surviving stone temple of Saurashtra as well as Gujarat.[1][2][4][5][5] Its dating has been controversial among scholars.[upper-alpha 1] The most probable date considered now is the last quarter of 6th century (Maitraka period) to the first half of the 7th century but not earlier than Uparkot caves of Junagadh.[9][6][2] The temple is protected monument by Archeological Survey of India and is designated as Monument of National Importance (N-GJ-133).[3]

Legendarily, the temple is connected with Gopi and Krishna.[4]

Architecture

Sketch of roof (north side) with chaitya-windows and lower base of the temple
Inscription on the left jamb of the door

The complex has a square shrine surrounded by double courtyards. The shrine is roofed by peculiar shikhara.[upper-alpha 2] 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 then it contracts to form a pyramid shaped shikhara. It is built of coursed ashlar. Each course is about 8 inches deep and is carefully jointed. Thus it is built 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, as if for joists; and over them, in side walls, are six smaller holes, as if for rafters. The shrine door faces the east. The front wall over the wall had been fallen and rebuilt 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 left jamb of the door which can not be decipherable.[6][2][10][3]

The shikhara (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 tires having three clear divisions. The lowest division has two chaitya-windows (dormer arches) on each side followed by upper division with single chaitya-window. The apex is crowned by a single stone with amalaka (stone disc) on it. These chaitya-windows had god figures. There is Ganesha figure still visible in the west side and another Deva figure on the north side. There is series of holes 2 1⁄2 feet below the string-course which supported beams that once supported the roof of inner courtyard.[6][2][10]

Of 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 as parikrama path so it is sandhara (with circumambulatory path) type of temple.[5] The basement of it was decorated on all four sides by one niche in centre and one each at the corners. These niches contained most probably god figurine. The stretch between these niche was ornamented with small figures such as dwarfs. The outer courtyard was about 9 1⁄2 feet wide. It was probably open above or at least laterally.[6][2][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 as Rama and Lakshaman. The Ram figure has high square Mukuta or head-dress while Lakshamana has low crown, long ear-rings, ringlets and holds spear in right hand.[6][2] The figures are identified as Vishnu and Skandha by some historians. Some believe that it was dedicated to Surya, the solar deity.[3] The location is connected with Shivaism also.[4]

Influences and resemblances

The temple is an unusual architectural variation on the Nagara style. It has resemblances with early Dravidian temples of Pattadakal and Aihole. It also have similarities with temples of Kashmir in arrangement of roof and the trefoil niches on outside wall of inner courtyard.[11] Such temples include Martand Sun Temple, Pandrethan and Payar temples though all of them are later than 8th century. The temple has influences of Gandhara architecture, the northwestern Indian tradition of the Kushana period, probably brought about to Kathiawar via Sindh by Buddhists which also influenced Kashmir architecture. Like Gupta period 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.[5][12] The temple has chaitya-windows similar to Uparkot caves of Junagadh but they had lost their use as vedika so they must have evolved later. The sculpture of Kahu-Jo-Darro stupa of Mirpurkhas has similarities with sculptures of Gop temple. As it is dated 4th to 5th century, the Gop temple may belonged to similar period.[6][2] Based on polished red ware found around the temple, the temple may belonged to Western Satrap period.[4] The radiocarbon dating of wood beam from the temple dating has confirmed its age of 550 AD.[4]

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ↑ Sankalia believes that the temple belongs to 5th century but not earlier than Uparkot caves of Junagadh based on the Kahu-Jo-Darro stupa of Mirpurkhas.[6] Burgess put it not later than 6th century.[2] The University of Delhi sources put it in Maitraka (late 6th century or early 7th century).[5] Some suggested Western Satrap period based on polished red ware found nearby.[4] K. V. Soundara Rajan assigned the first half of the 7th century.[7][8][4]
  2. ↑ The term for spire is vimana actually and shikhara is only crown of the spire. The vimana is used mainly in South India and virtually not used in north India and Gujarat. So shikhara is used here to describe the spire.

References

  1. 1 2 Susan 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. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-317-19374-6.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 James 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. Archived from the original on 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "ગોપ પાસેનું પ્રાચીન સૂર્ય મંદિર અસ્‍ત થઇ જશે". Akilanews (in Gujarati). 27 August 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2016. zero width joiner character in |title= at position 36 (help)
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "જામનગરના આ ગામમાં આવેલું છે ગુજરાતનું સૌથી પ્રાચીન મંદિર". Divya Bhaskar (in Gujarati). 24 June 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Temple Architecture, c. 300 - 750 CE". Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia (1941). The Archaeology of Gujarat: Including Kathiawar. Natwarlal & Company. pp. 55–59. Archived from the original on 2015.
  7. ↑ K. V. Soundara Rajan (1980). A Note on the Age of Gop Temple in Glimpses of Indian Culture: History & Archaeology. Sundeep. pp. 196–199.
  8. ↑ Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology. Brill Archive. p. 90. ISBN 90-04-03691-1.
  9. ↑ Jutta Jain-Neubauer (1 January 1981). The Stepwells of Gujarat: In Art-historical Perspective. Abhinav Publications. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-391-02284-3.
  10. 1 2 3 Ulrich Wiesner (1 January 1978). Nepalese Temple Architecture: Its Characteristics and Its Relations to Indian Development. BRILL. pp. 47–48. ISBN 90-04-05666-1.
  11. ↑ Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta Sastri (1982). A Comprehensive History of India: pt. 1-2. A.D. 300-985. Orient Longmans. pp. 1156–1158.
  12. ↑ Prithvi Kumar Agrawala (1968). Gupta temple architecture. Prithivi Prakashan. p. 57.
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