Swaminarayan Mandir, Gadhada

Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Gadhada
The temple at Gadhada
Religion
Affiliation	Hinduism
Deity	Gopinathji Maharaj (Krishna), Radha, HariKrishna Maharaj
Festivals	Janmashtami, Radhastami, Holi, Diwali
Location
Location	Gadhada
State	Gujarat
Country	India
Architecture
Creator	Lord Swaminarayan
Completed	9 October 1828
Website
www.shrigopinathji.com

Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Gadhada (Devnagari: श्री स्वामिनारायण मन्दिर, गढडा) also known as shri Gopinathji Dev mandir is a Hindu temple in Gadhada. This temple was built by Swaminarayan himself.

About Gopinathji Mandir

Murtis of Harikrishna, Gopinathji and Radhaji in central shrine

This temple is one of six temples which was made under the supervision of lord Swaminarayan. The land for constructing this temple in Gadhada, was donated by the court of Dada Khachar in Gadhada. Dada Khachar and his family were devotees of Lord Swaminarayan. The temple was made in the courtyard of his own residence. The temple work was planned and executed directly under the consultation and guidance of Lord Swaminarayan. Lord Swaminarayan supervised the construction and also helped with the manual service in the construction of the temple, by lifting stones and mortar. This shrine has two stories and three domes. It is adorned with carvings. The temple is placed on a high plinth is a spacious square and has an assembly hall with large dharamshalas and kitchens for ascetics and pilgrims.

Lord Swaminarayan had installed the idols in this temple on 9 October 1828. Shree Gopinathji , Shree Radhaji and Shree Harikrishnaji in the middle shrine, Dharmadeva and Bhaktimata and Vasudeva on the western shrine and Revti-Baldevji, Krishna and Suryanarayan in the eastern shrine. The idol of harikrushna has physique as same as Swaminarayan.

Lakshmi Wadi

Lakshmiwadi (place of cremation of Lord Swaminarayan) is situated a little away from the town. At Lakshmiwadi, a single dome temple has been constructed at the place of the funeral rituals of Lord Swaminarayan's mortal remains. A little ahead, there is one canopy where Lord Swaminarayan used to sit and deliver the discourses, and just a little ahead, there is the room of Nishkulanand Swami, where he placed the palanquin prepared by him for Lord Swaminarayan's last journey. A neem tree faces this place, and on its western side, there is one more canopy where Lord Swaminarayan celebrated 'Sharadotsava.'

Other information

Besides the idols installed by Lord Swaminarayan himself, the temple is a place of many memories of Lord Swaminarayan. On the path of the worship circuit of the inner temple, there is the idol of Ghanshyam facing northward. This prasadi temple has prasadi items of Lord Swaminarayan displayed in a museum at the temple.

On the southern side of the temple, there is a big neem tree and the chamber of Vasudeva where Lord Swaminarayan gave several discourses which are recorded in the Vachanamrut scripture. The court of Dada Khachar has been preserved in its original form. On the backside, there is the Akshar Ordi temple and Gangajalio well.

Lord Swaminarayan and his saints used to take a bath in the Ghela River. This river flows in the south side of the temple. There are prasadi river-beds – Narayan Dharo and Sahasra Dharo which Lord Swaminarayan visited frequently. There are small temples of Neelkanth and Hanuman on the bank of the river.Other holy places are naliyeri dhar for hanuman temple[small mountain],bhakti baug and radhavav which are around 2 km from gadhada(swamina).

In May 2012, the temple's spires were plated with gold, making it the first temple in Gujarat to have golden spires. This exercise cost the temple ₹210 million (US$2.5 million).

References

• Williams, Raymond (2001). Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-65422-7.
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