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{{Short description|6th century Sun temple in Gujarat, India}}
{{Infobox religious building
| name = Gop Temple
| native_name = ગોપનું મંદિર
| native_name_lang = gu
| image = Gop Gupta-Tempel 1999.JPG
| alt = 6th century Gop temple in Gujarat
| caption = 6th century Sun temple
| map_type = India #India Gujarat
| relief = yes
| religious_affiliation = [[Hinduism]]
| other_names =
| proper_name =
| coordinates = {{coord|22|1|43|N|69|55|44|E|region:IN|display=inline,title}}
| country = [[India]]
| state = [[Gujarat]]
| district = [[Jamnagar district]]
| location = Zinavari village, Jamjodhpur Taluka
| elevation_m =
| deity = [[Surya]], Skanda, others<ref>{{cite book|author=Sara L. Schastok|title=The Śāmalājī Sculptures and 6th Century Art in Western India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jh1fF8HvJmMC|year=1985|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=90-04-06941-0|pages=75 with footnotes}}</ref>
| festivals=
| architecture_style = [[Hindu temple architecture]]
| year_completed = 6th century CE<ref name=wiesner47>{{cite book|author=Ulrich Wiesner|title=Nepalese Temple Architecture: Its Characteristics and Its Relations to Indian Development|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZoYeAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA47|year=1978|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=90-04-05666-1|pages=47–48 with footnotes}}</ref>
| website =
}}
The '''Gop temple''' is a Sun temple located at Zinavari village in Jamjodhpur Taluka of [[Jamnagar district]], [[Gujarat]], India. The [[Hindu temple]] is dated to the 6th century and is one of the earliest surviving stone temples in Gujarat.<ref name=wiesner47/><ref name="MishraRay2016">{{cite book|author1=Susan Verma Mishra|author2=Himanshu Prabha Ray|title=The Archaeology of Sacred Spaces: The Temple in Western India, 2nd Century BCE–8th Century CE|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CtDLDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA274|date=5 August 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-19374-6|pages=108–109}}; 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".</ref> 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.<ref name=wiesner47/> The temple has a height of {{convert|23|ft}} which includes a small tower. The roof of the tower is decorated with arch-like [[gavaksha]] window shapes below an [[amalaka]] cogged wheel-shaped crown.

==Location==
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 of [[Ghumli]], on a hill top.<ref name="Burgess1876">{{cite book|author=James Burgess|author-link=James Burgess (archaeologist)|title=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|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u0D9MgEACAAJ|access-date=27 August 2016|year=1876|publisher=India Museum|location=London|page=187|quote={{PD-notice}}}} [http://www.dli.ernet.in/handle/2015/106940 Alt URL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829062000/http://www.dli.ernet.in/handle/2015/106940 |date=2016-08-29 }}</ref><ref name="MishraRay2016"/>

==History==
{{multiple image
| width = 150
| image1 = Old temple, general view from the east, Gop, Gujarat.jpg
| caption1 = East view
| image2 = View from the south-east of the old temple at Gop, Gujarat.jpg
| caption2 = Southeast view
| image3 = Old temple, general view from the north-west, Gop, Gujarat.jpg
| caption3 = Northwest view
}}
The ancient temple of Gop is considered the earliest surviving stone temple of [[Saurashtra (region)|Saurashtra]], [[Gujarat]].<ref name="MishraRay2016"/><ref name="Burgess1876"/> Burgess in 1876 estimated that it not later than 6th century.<ref name="Burgess1876"/> Sankalia states that the temple belongs to the 5th century but not earlier than [[Junagadh Buddhist Cave Groups|Uparkot caves of Junagadh]] based on the [[Kahu-Jo-Darro]] [[stupa]] of [[Mirpurkhas]].<ref name="Sankalia1941">{{cite book|author=Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia|title=The Archaeology of Gujarat: Including Kathiawar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fvAdAAAAMAA|year=1941|publisher=Natwarlal & Company|pages=55–59}}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} [http://www.dli.ernet.in/handle/2015/51876 Alt URL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803130738/http://www.dli.ernet.in/handle/2015/51876 |date=2017-08-03 }}</ref> The temple is generally dated to late 6th century (575-600 CE).<ref name=wiesner47/><ref name="Jain-Neubauer1981">{{cite book|author=Jutta Jain-Neubauer|title=The Stepwells of Gujarat: In Art-historical Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=61fSwBF4bbYC&pg=PR14|date=1 January 1981|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-0-391-02284-3|page=14}}</ref>

K. V. Soundara Rajan assigned the first half of the 7th century.<ref name="Rajan1980">{{cite book|author=K. V. Soundara Rajan|title=A Note on the Age of Gop Temple in ''Glimpses of Indian Culture: History & Archaeology''|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lgpuAAAAMAAJ|year=1980|publisher=Sundeep|pages=196–199}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-hwVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA90|publisher=Brill Archive|isbn=90-04-03691-1|page=90}}</ref> The most probable date considered now is the last quarter of 6th century ([[Maitraka]] period) to the first half of the 7th century.<ref name="Sompura1968">{{cite book|last=Sompura|first=Kantilal F.|title=The Structural Temples of Gujarat, Upto 1600 A.D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dXTqAAAAMAAJ|year=1968|publisher=Gujarat University|pages=75–76}}</ref> The temple is a protected monument by [[Archeological Survey of India]] and is designated as [[Monument of National Importance|a Monument of National Importance]] (N-GJ-133).

==Description==
[[File:600 CE Gop Surya temple, Zinavari Gujarat plan, 1876 sketch.jpg|thumb|The small, 23 feet tall Gop temple has a square plan.]]
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 roofed ''pradakshina-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 the ''[[shikhara]]''.{{efn-ua|In south India, this part is called ''[[vimana]]'', a term virtually not used in north India and Gujarat. So ''shikhara'' is used here to describe the spire.}} 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 pyramidal ''shikhara''. 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 left [[jamb]] of the door which Burgess was unable to decipher.<ref name="Burgess1876"/><ref name="Wiesner1978">{{cite book|author=Ulrich Wiesner|title=Nepalese Temple Architecture: Its Characteristics and Its Relations to Indian Development|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZoYeAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA48|date=1 January 1978|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-05666-1|pages=47–48}}</ref>

[[File:Gop Sun temple Zinavari Gujarat roof north.jpg|thumb|Sketch of ruined roof (north side). The arch shaped motifs include reliefs.]]
[[File:Inscription on the left jamb of the door of temple at Gop, Gujarat.png|thumb|Inscription on the left jamb of the door]]
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 tiers having three clear divisions. The lowest division has two [[gavaksha]]s or arch-shaped motifs on each side, with some images carved in. The apex is crowned by a single stone ''[[amalaka]]'' (stone disc) on it. Some figures on the Shikhara are identifiable. There is [[Ganesha|a Ganesha]] figure still visible in the west side and another [[Deva (Hinduism)|Deva]] figure on the north side. There are a series of holes 2{{1/2}} feet below the string-course which supported beams that once supported the roof of inner courtyard.<ref name="Burgess1876"/><ref name="Wiesner1978"/><ref name="Nanavati Dhaky 1969"/>

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 as ''[[parikrama]]'' path so it is ''sandhara'' (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 9{{1/2}} feet wide. It was probably open above or at least laterally.<ref name="Burgess1876"/><ref name="Wiesner1978"/>

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.<ref name="Burgess1876"/> The temple features iconography of [[Vishnu]], [[Skandha]], [[Surya]] (the solar deity) and the temple has been locally called Surya Mandir. The site also shows iconography of [[Shivaism]], with evidence that Hindu monks lived here.<ref name="Burgess1876"/><ref name="Nanavati Dhaky 1969"/>

==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 the arrangement of roof and the trefoil niches on the outside wall of the inner courtyard.<ref name="Sastri1982">{{cite book|author=Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta Sastri|title=A Comprehensive History of India: pt. 1-2. A.D. 300-985|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9MMKAQAAIAAJ|year=1982|publisher=Orient Longmans|pages=1156–1158}}</ref> Such temples include [[Martand Sun Temple]], [[Pandrethan Shiva Temple]] and Payar temple though all of them are later than 8th century. [[Gupta Empire|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.<ref name="Agrawala1968">{{cite book|author=Prithvi Kumar Agrawala|title=Gupta temple architecture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yB5UAAAAMAAJ|year=1968|publisher=Prithivi Prakashan|page=57}}</ref> The temple has ''chaitya''-windows similar to [[Junagadh Buddhist Cave Groups|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 have belonged to similar period.<ref name="Burgess1876"/> The [[radiocarbon dating]] of the wood beam from the temple dating has confirmed its age of 550 AD.<ref name="Nanavati Dhaky 1969">{{cite journal|last=Nanavati|first=J. M.|last2=Dhaky|first2=M. A.|author-link2=Madhusudan Dhaky|year=1969|title=The Maitraka and the Saindhava Temples of Gujarat|url=http://vmis.in/Resources/digital_publication_popup?id=79|journal=Artibus Asiae. Supplementum|publisher=JSTOR|volume=26|pages=33–40|doi=10.2307/1522666|access-date=31 December 2016|jstor=1522666|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Notes and references==
===Notes===
{{notelist-ua}}

===References===
{{Reflist}}

{{commons category|Gop temple}}
{{Sun temples}}
{{Hindu inscriptions and arts|state=autocollapse}}
{{Hindudharma}}
{{Hindu temples in Gujarat}}

[[Category:Hindu temples in Gujarat]]
[[Category:Surya temples]]
[[Category:7th-century Hindu temples]]
[[Category:6th-century Hindu temples]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Jamnagar district]]
[[Category:Monuments of National Importance in Gujarat]]

Gop Temple - Revision history

Donnell05T at 18:15, 28 February 2026