History

History

Somnath, a well know temple for its bewildering beauty and history, is about 5 km from Veraval has bookmarked the history. It is one of the most sacred of the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines of God Shiva. It is believed that, Soma or the ‘Moon god’ was cursed by his father-in-law Daksha. Soma then worshipped God Shiva to be blessed with recovery of the majesty for 15 days of month. In return Soma built Somnath temple in gold over the previously existing Jyotirlinga. Later Ravana built the Somnath temple in silver and then Shri Krishna in wood. In the Mahabharata, Lord Krishna advised the Yadavs to visit Somnath temple to get freedom from Durvasa's curse.

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• Somnath was hit six times…

  Somnath rose and fell many a time but the spiritual Hindu's passionate desire for its reinstatement continued till the 15th century, when the Hindus finally gave up in absolute depression and built a new temple nearby.
  The series of rise and fall of temple is summarized below:
  1)   First temple was built in the beginning of common era.
  2)   The second temple , built by Yadava Kings of Vallabhi in Gujarat. It was destroyed by armies of arab Governor of Sind
  3)   The third was built by The Gurjara Pratihara king Nagabhata II, destroyed by Muhammad Gazni.
  4)   It was Again rebuilt by  Gujjar Paramara King Bhoj of Malwa and the Solanki king Bhimadev I of Anhilwara, was again destroyed of Sultan Allauddin Khilji's army.
  5)   The temple was again built by Mahipala Deva, the Chudasama king of Saurashtra, it was once again destroyed by Muzaffar Shah I, the Sultan of Gujarat.
  6)   the temple was once again destroyed by Mahmud Begda, the Sultan of Gujarat.
  7)   the temple was once again destroyed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
  
  Later on a joint effort of Peshwa of Pune, Raja Bhonsle of Nagpur, Chhatrapati Bhonsle of Kolhapur, Queen Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore & Shrimant Patilbuwa Shinde of Gwalior rebuilt the temple in 1783 AD at a site adjacent to the ruined temple

The Secret of Somnath

The earlier name of the village was Bhagirathpatti-gangapatti, - after the names of two great ancestors: Bhagirathdutta and Gangadutt Sharma. These two brothers were great devotees of Lord Shiva and scholars of importance. After achieving academic excellence, the Dutta brothers made a visit to the famous Shiva Temple of the coastal region of Saurastra of present-day Gujarat and offered their prąyer to the lord. Lord Somnath was extremely pleased with their devotion and appeared in the dream of the king giving him instructions to appoint them as the chief priests of the Somnath Temple. The Dutta brothers did not break away from their roots in their native village. They purchased land measuring 145 acres surrounding it and established a new village after their names – Bhagirathpatti-gangapatti.

In the 11th century (1025 AD), Mohammad Ghaznavi plundered the temple of Somnath. Now the Lord again appeared in the dream of Dutta brothers and gave them instructions, to take His lingam away from Saurastra. They followed the instructions and with the lingam came down to their native village. They changed the name of the village from Bhagirathpatti-gangapatti to Saurastra, which later became distorted as Saurath, however they did not share the secret of Somnath with anybody. The lingam was kept in a marshy land on the bank of the river Kamla. The Dutta brothers ďied without telling the story of the lingam to anybody.

After 150 years, a saint, Fakirchand, started constructing a dharmashala there. All of a sudden at night, Lord Shiva appeared in his dream and told him the entire episode. He said how his men had hurt Him by breaking the upper most part of the lingam with an axe. The Lord said.

“I am Somnath Mahadev of the coastal Saurastra. After the assailment of Mohammad Ghaznavi two religious sons of this village brought my lingam here on my instruction. This secret they did not share with anybody, as the fear of Mohammad Ghaznavi was widespread in Mithila too. This compelled me to live in isolation in a marshy and bushy land. No devotee visits here to offer prąyer to me. Now, as you have started clearing this place, I am sure, the devotees of this and surrounding villages will once again take care of me.”

Fakirchand got up early in the morning and recollected his dream. To check the episode, he went to the site and found that his men had unknowingly hit the lingam of Somnath with their axe making it bleed profusely. In this way the existence of the Lord of Somnath was confirmed. A small temple was erected and facilities such as a well, a small flower garden, a pond etc were made for the devotees.

 Somnath 1869 (Inner view)

    Somnath in 1869