Ancient Indian traditions maintain a close relationship of Somnath with release of Chandra (Moon God) from the curse of his father-in-law Daksha Prajapati. Moon was married to Twenty-Seven daughters of Daksha. However, he favoured Rohini and neglected other queens. The aggrieved Daksha cursed Moon and the Moon lost power of light. With the advice of Prajapita Brahma, Moon arrived at the Prabhas Teerth and worshipped Bhagvan Shiva. Pleased with the great penance and devotion of Moon, Bhagvan Shiva blessed him and relieved him from the curse of darkness. Pauranic traditions maintain that Moon had built a golden temple, followed by a silver temple by Ravana, Bhagvan Shree Krishna is believed to have built Somnath temple with Sandalwood.
The research based on ancient Indian classical texts show that first Somnath Jyotirling Pran-Pratistha was done on the auspicious third day of brighter half of Shravan month during the tenth Treta yug of Vaivswat Manvantar. Swami Shri Gajananand Saraswatiji, Chairman of Shrimad Aadhya Jagadguru Shankaracharya Vedic Shodh Sansthan, Varanasi suggested that the said first temple was built 7,99,25,105 years ago as derived from the traditions of Prabhas Khand of Skand Puran. Thus, this temple is a perennial source of inspiration for millions of Hindus since time immemorial.
The Moon God is said to have been relieved from the curse of his father-in-law Daksha Prajapati by the blessings of Bhagvan Somnath. In the Shiva Purana and Nandi Upapurana, Shiva said, `I am always present everywhere but specially in 12 forms and places as the Jyotirlingas`. Somnath is one of these 12 holy places. This is the first among the twelve holy Shiva Jyotirlings.
The later sources of history account for several desecrations by Muslims invaders during eleventh to eighteen century A.D. The temple was rebuilt every time with the reconstructive spirit of the people. The modern temple was reconstructed with the resolve of Sardar Patel who visited the ruins of Somnath temple on November 13 1947. Then President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, did the Pran-Pratistha at the existing temple on 11 May 1951.
Other spots in the temple are Shri Kapardi Vinayak and Shri Hanuman Temple in addition to Vallabhghat. Vallabhghat is a beautiful sunset point. The temple is illuminated every evening. Similarly, the Sound & Light Show “Jay Somnath” is also displayed every night during 8.00 to 9.00, which allows the pilgrims an ethereal experience in the backdrop of grand Somnath temple and the holy wave sounds of the Ocean.
Ahalyabai temple is also close by, which was built by the queen mother Shri Ahalyabai Holker during 1782. This temple maintained the Pooja Parampara of Bhagvan Shiva during the hostile political conditions.
The Somnath temple located in Prabhas Patan near Veraval in Saurashtra on the western coast of Gujarat, is believed to be the first among the twelve jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva.
It is an important pilgrimage and tourist spot of Gujarat. Destroyed
and reconstructed several times in the past, the present temple was
reconstructed in Chalukya style of Hindu temple architecture and completed in May 1951. The reconstruction was envisioned by Vallabhbhai Patel and was completed under K. M. Munshi, the then head of the temple trust
The temple is considered sacred due to the various legends connected to it. Somnath means "Lord of the Soma", an epithet of Shiva.
The Somnath temple is known as "the Shrine Eternal", following a book of K. M. Munshi by this title and his narration of the temple's destruction and reconstruction many times in history.
Jyotirlinga
According to tradition, the Shivalinga in Somnath is one of the twelve jyotirlingas in India, where Shiva is believed to have appeared as a fiery column of light. The jyotirlingas are taken as the supreme, undivided reality out of which Shiva partly appears.
Each of the twelve jyotirlinga sites take the name of a different manifestation of Shiva. At all these sites, the primary image is a lingam representing the beginning-less and endless stambha (pillar), symbolizing the infinite nature of Shiva. In addition to the one at Somnath, the others are at Varanasi, Rameswaram, Dwarka, etc.
History[edit]
The site of Somnath has been a pilgrimage site from ancient times on account of being a Triveni sangam (the confluence of three rivers — Kapila, Hiran and the mythical Sarasvati). Soma, the Moon god,
is believed to have lost his lustre due to a curse, and he bathed in
the Sarasvati River at this site to regain it. The result is the waxing
and waning of the moon, no doubt an allusion to the waxing and waning of
the tides at this sea shore location. The name of the town Prabhas, meaning lustre, as well as the alternative names Someshvar and Somnath ("The lord of the moon" or "the moon god") arise from this tradition.
History of the temple[edit]
According to popular tradition documented by J. Gordon Melton,
the first Siva temple at Somanath is believed to have been built at
some unknown time in the past. The second temple is said to have been
built at the same site by the "Yadava kings" of Vallabhi around 649 CE. In 725 CE, Al-Junayd, the Arab governor of Sindh is said to have destroyed the second temple as part of his invasions of Gujarat and Rajasthan. The Gurjara-Pratihara king Nagabhata II is said to have constructed the third temple in 815 CE, a large structure of red sandstone.
However, there is no historical record of an attack on Somnath by Al-Junayd. Nagabhata II is known to have visited tirthas in Saurashtra, including Someshvara (the Lord of the Moon), which may or may not be a reference to a Siva temple because the town itself was known by that name. The Chaulukya (Solanki) king Mularaja
possibly built the first temple at the site sometime before 997 CE,
even though some historians believe that he may have renovated a smaller
earlier temple.
Somnath temple, 1869
In 1024, during the reign of Bhima I, the prominent Turkic ruler Mahmud of Ghazni raided Gujarat, plundering the Somnath temple and breaking its jyotirlinga. He took away a booty of 20 million dinars.[16][17]
Historians expect the damage to the temple to have been minimal because
there are records of pilgrimages to the temple in 1038, which make no
mention of any damage to the temple.[18] However, powerful legends with intricate detail developed in the Turko-Persian literature regarding Mahmud's raid,[19] which "electrified" the Muslim world according to scholar Meenakshi Jain.[20]
The temple at the time of Mahmud's attack appears to have been a wooden structure, which is said to have decayed in time (kalajirnam). Kumarapala (r. 1143–72) rebuilt it in "excellent stone and studded it with jewels," according to an inscription in 1169. In 1299, Alauddin Khilji's army under the leadership of Ulugh Khan defeated Karandev II of the Vaghela dynasty, and sacked the Somnath temple.[23] According to Taj-ul-Ma'sir of Hasan Nizami,
the Sultan boasted that "fifty thousand infidels were dispatched to
hell by the sword" and "more than twenty thousand slaves, and cattle
beyond all calculation fell into the hands of the victors". Legends in the later texts Kanhadade Prabandha (15th century) and Khyat (17th century) state that the Jalore ruler Kanhadadeva later recovered the Somnath idol and freed the Hindu prisoners, after an attack on the Delhi army near Jalore.[26] However, other sources state that the idol was taken to Delhi, where it was thrown to be trampled under the feet of Muslims. These sources include the contemporary and near-contemporary texts including Amir Khusrau's Khazainul-Futuh, Ziauddin Barani's Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi and Jinaprabha Suri's Vividha-tirtha-kalpa.
It is possible that the story of Kanhadadeva's rescue of the Somnath
idol is a fabrication by the later writers. Alternatively, it is
possible that the Khilji army was taking multiple idols to Delhi, and
Kanhadadeva's army retrieved one of them.
The temple was rebuilt by Mahipala Deva, the Chudasama king of Saurashtra in 1308 and the lingam was installed by his son Khengar sometime between 1326 and 1351. As late as the 14th century, Gujarati Muslim pilgrims were noted by Amir Khusrow to stop at that temple to pay their respects before departing for the Hajj pilgrimage.
In 1395, the temple was destroyed for the third time by Zafar Khan, the last governor of Gujarat under the Delhi Sultanate. In 1451, it was desecrated by Mahmud Begada, the Sultan of Gujarat.
In 1546, the Portuguese, based in Goa, attacked ports and towns in Gujarat including Somnath and destroyed several temples and mosques.
By 1665, the temple, one of many, was ordered to be destroyed by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. In 1702, he ordered that if Hindus revived worship there, it should be demolished completely.
'Proclamation of the Gates' incident during the British period[edit]
In 1782-83 AD, Maratha king Mahadaji Shinde, victoriously brought back three silver gates from Lahore after defeating Mahmud Shah Abdati, to Somnath. After refusal from priests of Gujarat and the then ruler Gaekwad
to put them back on Somnath temple, these silver gates were placed in
the temples of Ujjain. Today they can be seen in two temples of India, Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga and Gopal Mandir of Ujjain.
In 1842, Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough issued his the Proclamation of the Gates,
in which he ordered the British army in Afghanistan to return via
Ghazni and bring back to India the sandalwood gates from the tomb of
Mahmud of Ghazni in Ghazni, Afghanistan. These were believed to have
been taken by Mahmud from Somnath. There was a debate in the House of Commons in London in 1843 on the question of the gates of the temple.After much crossfire between the British Government and the opposition,
the gates were uprooted and brought back in triumph. But on arrival,
they were found to be replicas of the original. They were placed in a store-room in the Agra Fort where they still lie to the present day.
In the 19th century novel The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, the diamond of the title is presumed to have been stolen from the temple at Somnath and, according to the historian Romila Thapar, reflects the interest aroused in Britain by the gates.
Reconstruction, 1950–1951
K.M. Munshi with archaeologists and engineers of the Government of
India, Bombay and Saurashtra, with the ruins of Somnath Temple in the
background, July 1950.
Early picture of the present temple
Before independence, Prabhas Patan was part of the princely state of Junagadh, whose ruler had acceded to Pakistan in 1947. After India refused to accept his decision,
the state was made a part of India and Deputy Prime Minister Patel came
to Junagadh on 12 November 1947 to direct the stabilization of the
state by the Indian Army and at the same time ordered the reconstruction
of the Somanath temple.
When Patel, K. M. Munshi and other leaders of the Congress went to Mahatma Gandhi
with their proposal to reconstruct the Somnath temple, Gandhi blessed
the move, but suggested that the funds for the construction should be
collected from the public and the temple should not be funded by the
state. He expressed that he was proud to associate himself to the
project of renovation of the temple.
However, soon both Gandhi and Sardar Patel died and the task of
reconstruction of the temple continued under Munshi, who was the
Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Government of India headed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
The ruins were pulled down in October 1950 and the mosque present at that site was shifted few kilometres away.] In May 1951, Rajendra Prasad, the first President of the Republic of India, invited by K M Munshi, performed the installation ceremony for the temple.
The President said in his address, "It is my view that the
reconstruction of the Somnath Temple will be complete on that day when
not only a magnificent edifice will arise on this foundation, but the
mansion of India's prosperity will be really that prosperity of which
the ancient temple of Somnath was a symbol.".He added "The Somnath temple signifies that the power of reconstruction is always greater than the power of destruction"[48]
Architecture of the present temple
Bāṇastambha (Arrow Pillar)
The present temple is built in the Chalukya style of temple architecture or "Kailash Mahameru Prasad" style and reflects the skill of the Sompura Salats, one of Gujarat's master masons. The temple's śikhara, or main spire, is 15 metres in height, and it has an 8.2-metre tall flag pole at the top.
The temple is situated at such a place that there is no land in a straight line between Somnath seashore until Antarctica, such an inscription in Sanskrit is found on the Bāṇastambha (Sanskrit: बाणस्तम्भ, lit. arrow pillar)
erected on the sea-protection wall. The Bāṇastambha mentions that it
stands at a point on the Indian landmass that is the first point on land
in the north to the South Pole at that particular longitude.
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