File:10th-century Nilakantha Mahadeva Hindu temple, Sunak Gujarat.jpg

English: This is a JPEG format plan and architectural drawing of a historic Indian temple or monument. An alternate SVG format (scalable vector graphics) version of this file – for web graphics, design studies, print, dynamic and interactive applications – has also been uploaded to wikimedia commons.

The drawing:

• Sunak (also called Sonak) is a village about 8 kilometers west of Unjha town in Gujarat, and close to State Highway 130. It is southwest of Siddhapur.

• This temple illustrates Hindu Nagara style temple architecture. This is the floor plan of the temple.

• It consists of an entrance porch, an open hall or mandapa and it faces the east. The roof of the mandapa is supported by 16 columns with 12 forming a square, remaining flanking the north and south sides. The mandapa pillars are spaciously arranged as to let devotees gather and sit for religious ceremonies. The temple's dome is intricately carved with dedicated space for twelve images, of which only six mutilated Shaiva art-works survive: Kali in the north, Nataraja in west, Bhairava in south being the major ones.

• Based on inscriptions found in the region that mention gifts to this temple, it is likely from the 10th-century, or about 100 years before the Modhera Sun temple of Gujarat.

• This Sunak temple is one of many in this region built between the 8th and 11th-century.

• The temple's architectural plan follows the square and circle principle found in historic Sanskrit texts.

• GPS location of the monument:

23° 48′ 10.6″ N, 72° 19′ 06.4″ E

View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap

23.802944; 72.318444

• The relative scale and relative dimensions in this architectural drawing are close to the actual but neither exact nor complete. The plan illustrates the design and layout, but some intricate details or parts of the temple may not be shown. In cases where exact measurements were not feasible, the drawing uses best approximations and rounds the best measurements feasible. This drawing uses the data and ground plan published in 1903 in The Architectural Antiquities of Northern Gujarat, Jas Burgess and Henry Cousens, Archaeological Survey of Western India Volume IX. This is in public domain.

Note: Please do not overwrite this file. To modify or correct or load a new version, please upload a new separate file and link the new other version(s) to this file as recommended by wikimedia commons guidelines.