Shree Somnath Jyotirlinga Temple

The Somnath temple in Prabhas Patan near Veraval in Saurashtra on Gujarat’s west coast, India, is the first of Shiva’s twelve Jyotirlinga shrines. It’s an important tourist and pilgrimage spot. Because of the various legends related to it, the temple is considered sacred. Somnath means “Soma’s God,” Shiva’s epithet. The Temple of Somnath is regarded as the Eternal Shrine. This ancient temple was destroyed and rebuilt several times, respectively, by Islamic kings and Hindu kings. It was restored most recently in November 1947, when Vallabhbhai Patel visited Junagadh’s integration area and mooted a reconstruction proposal. The reconstruction began under Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi, another Indian government minister, after Patel’s death. The temple is open from 6 am to 9 pm on a daily basis. There are three aartis daily; 07:00 in the morning, 12:00 in the morning and 19:00 in the evening. It is also believed that this is the location where Krishna on earth finished his rainbow and left for his heavenly house.

History of Somnath Jyotirlinga
It is believed that the original temple was built by the Moon God with gold in the Satya Yuga; by Ravana in Treta Yuga in silver; and by Lord Krishna in Dwapara Yuga in sandalwood. This temple has been looted and demolished many times by various invaders – by Mahmud of Ghazni (1024), Afzal Khan, Ala-ud-din Khilji’s commander (1296), Muzaffar Shah (1375), Mahmud Begada (1451), and later Aurangzeb (1665). Many rulers reconstructed the temple: Shri Vikramaditya of Ujjaini (about 2500 years ago), the Vallabhi kings (in the period 480-767 CE), Bhimadeva of Anhilawada (in 11th century AD), and Khangara, the king of Junagadh (in 1351 AD) among many others. It has been reconstructed about 17 times! The modern structure has been constructed by India’s former deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel between 1947 and 1951 in sandstone.

Architecture
The temple features an elaborate and extravagant architecture marked with many rich, intricate carvings. The temple is seven storied and reaches up to a height of 155ft. The architectural pattern exhibited by the temple is the Chalukya architectural pattern. The architectural beauty of the Somnath Temple ideally mirrors the masonry skills of Sampuras who are Gujarat’s master masons. The temple’s positioning is quite unique. The temple is positioned in such a way that not a single piece of land is visible from the Somnath seashore until Antarctica.

A magnificent Kalash or pot vessel tops the temple Shikhara and weighs up to 10 tones approximately. The summit is adorned with a flag whose mast is 37ft in length. The temple’s entrance has an enticing photo gallery near it. This gallery exhibits photos telling the tale of the ancient temple’s ruins, renovations and excavations. The temple’s architecture is simply splendid and is adorned with breath-taking stone carvings & sculptures.

The temple in its interior has a Garbha Griha with the Jyotirlingam enshrined in it, a Sabha Mandap or assembly hall and a Nrityamandap. The ceiling is made out of loadstone and is decked with exquisite watercolor paintings. It is said that once upon a time, the temple interior is decked up most lavishly with precious gems and jewels. But attackers and invaders attacked the temple from time to time in order to plunder all these brilliant riches.