Swaminarayan Mandir, Gadhada

The Swaminarayan Mandir at Gadhada, also called the Gopinathji Dev Mandir, is one of six temples raised under the direction of Swaminarayan, founder of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya. It stands on land given by Dada Khachar, a devotee whose court was at Gadhada, in the courtyard of his own home. Swaminarayan oversaw the work and is said to have joined in, lifting stones and mortar, and he installed the images on 9 October 1828.

The carved two-storey shrine has three domes and sits on a high plinth with an assembly hall, dharamshalas and kitchens for ascetics and pilgrims. Gopinath, Radha and Harikrishna occupy the central shrine, with Swaminarayan's parents and Vasudeva to the west and Revti-Baldevji, Krishna and Suryanarayan to the east. A little outside the town is Lakshmiwadi, where a single-domed temple marks Swaminarayan's cremation site, near canopies where he gave discourses.