Sopara or Sopra or Hopra is a village located in the Bhopalgarh tehsil of Jodhpur District, Rajasthan, India.
History
The habitation is around 500 years old. It is said that the village was established by the two brothers and their nephew who travelled to the place long back ago from Kurchi (another village). All the people of the village are the progeny of the three gentlemen. As a result, the village is divided in three major "baas" (habitations), namely "Uperly Baas", "Bhichily Baas" and "Khurali Baas".
The name "Sopra" It is said that the three men reached the place at time of dusk, so they called the place , or , meaning "dusk is approached" in the local language, Marwari. Later it corrupted to Sopda and Sopra.
Demographics
Sopra has population of 1264 of which 658 are males while 606 are females as per Population Census 2011. In Sopra village population of children with age 0–6 is 140.
659 of the population are literate.
Languages: People predominantly speak Marwari language and has a good understanding of Hindi too.
Social structure
There are around 250 households in the village. Majority of them belong to Godara Jats which is a landowning peasant class. Thus colloquially village is also called as 'Godara nagar Hopra' by people from the community.
There are many households of 'Meghwals' and 'Bhils' too, which form an important part of the village community.
Apart from that to meet the requirements of land based caste society, there is one household each of Suthar (carpenter class), Lohar (Blacksmith class), Barber, Rajput etc.
Migration
Lately many people of 'mali' community, another peasant class have come and settled in the village fields.
While many people of have migrated to villages of Salwa and Kheri nearby. In most recent times, most of the migrant are leaving for the city of Jodhpur.
Beliefs
Almost all residents are Hindus and worship the local deity Bhomiaji, who is a medieval hero who laid his life protecting the cows from thieves. There a Chattri dedicated to him on the local mound in the village. It is adjoined by another Chattri of his devotee Jyothsinghji who was also a resident of the village.
Several other temples are also there in the village dedicated to Thakurji (Krishna), Shiva, Ramdevji. There are chabutaras for Gogaji, Pabuji scattered across.
People highly regard Jogmaya of Bhagoria village temple and attend annual navratri fair without a miss.
Bhomiaji Maharaj Temple
It is located on a small hill nearby a pond in village.
The tip of chattri is the highest point for any built structure in the village. And it will possibly remain so for a long time due to a practice among villagers of not going above the height of chattri while building their houses. Thus there are not many double story houses in the village, only one.
Culture
Deepawali is the major festival celebrated by the residents of village, almost all houses are decorated with lights and diyas during this 5 day long festival. villagers pay visit to Bhomiaji chattri along with the 'jyots' and 'sweets'. Holi is another major Hindu festival celebrated, earlier it used to be a muted affair but over time new generation has adopted popular mainstream way of celebrating it like in major towns and cities i.e. roaming in bands to color people across village. Dashara is major cultural fest, with Ramlila ceremony annually for the entertainment of villagers. Bhomiaji Jagaran: is an annual affair coinciding with the birth anniversary of lord Bhomiaji on full moon day. Navratra: villagers attend an annual fair at Bhagoriya Jogamaya mataji temple in a nearby village. Runecha yatra: many people take to a religious journey to Ramdevra in Jaisalmer to pay homage to Ramdevji, some on foot and others by vehicles.
Marriage
Gotra system of marriage is followed by villagers, further strict endogamy and exogamy is followed by all the communities in the villages.
Mounting of a horse is prohibited for the grooms in the village as horse is considered a mount of lord Bhomiaji. Mayara tradition: all villagers get together and contribute financially for the expenses borne out by daughter of village towards her son-daughter marriage. Aata-Saata (aamne-saamne) tradition Baand barai' : is a tradition of villagers and relatives contributing small sums of money to help the family meet a part of their marriage ceremony expenses.