English: 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.

The temple architecture shows many of the key architectural elements of Hindu Nagara style temple.

The temple 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 devatas, of which only six mutilated Shaiva devatas art-work survive: Kali in the north, Nataraja in west, Bhairava in south being the major ones.

Several inscriptions are found in the temple, but these are all from centuries after the 15th-century. This temple and its location near water tank is mentioned in an inscription found at another Hindu temple about 20 kilometers away, thereby helping it date to the 10th-century or before. Additionally, a copper plate inscription of 11th-century also mentions this temple confirming its significance to the regional Hindu community. However, given the architectural features, it is likely from the 10th-century or about 100 years before the Modhera Sun temple of Gujarat.

Location: 23°48'10.6" N, 72°19'06.4" E

This Sunak temple is one of many in this region built between the 8th and 11th-century. They are Nagara style temples of Hinduism and Jainism. The Hindu temples belong to Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism traditions. Like this temple, many have complete or partial inscriptions that help date these temples. Most were ruined, defaced and mutilated during the Delhi Sultanate raids and Hindu-Muslim wars of 13th to 16th-centuries. Portions of this temple have been restored, though with mutilated artwork. It is one of the few Hindu temples in Gujarat where many parts of the original temple were traceable and were put back together.

This artwork is based on the photographs and sectional drawings of Henry Cousens published in 2D form in 1885 and 1903 (See e.g. The Architectural Antiquities of Northern Gujarat, Jas Burgess and Henry Cousens (1903), Archaeological Survey of Western India Volume IX, Plates LXXXI to LXXXVI). Thus wikimedia commons PD-Art guidelines apply. Any rights I have as a photographer and creative artist, I herewith donate to the public domain through wikimedia commons (the free CC0 license). Note: Please do not overwrite this file. If you modify it, or if believe you have an improved or better version, please upload your file as a new file.