Temples and Stones of Somnath
The land of "Surashtra" or Ancient Kathiawar was, according to a proverbial sloka, "well known for its five jewels: rivers, damsels, horses, the god Krishna at the city of Dwarka and the god Somnath at the city of Prabhas."
Somnath, one of these five jewels, is a form of Shiva, the Indian phallus, and is enumerated first among the "Twelve Self- created Jyotirlingas" (or "the Brilliant Phallii") of Hinduism. The great historic shrine dedicated to Somnath is situated on the sacred confluence of the rivers Saraswati, Hiranya and Kapila, on the south- western coast of Kathiawar. This part of the country was known as "Prabhas Kshetra" or "The Land of Exceeding Brilliancy." It was. Probably, the wealthiest and the most pompously adorned shrine ever built in India. The stories of its immense wealth spread beyond the frontiers of India and fired the greed of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. Sheikh Saadi, the great poet of Iran, was so attracted by its great fame that he made a special sojourn to visit this glorious temple from far off Shiraz.
"Daksha was a demi- god created by Brahma for the purpose of creating animal and vegetable life. He had fifty daughters, of whom he gave in marriage twenty- seven, who now shine in heaven as the twenty- seven nakshatras (lunar mansions) to the moon. But themoon loved Rohini (the asterism in Taurus consisting of five stars) alone and devoted all his attention to her. The other twenty- six thereupon complained to their father, and Daksha scoldd the moon and desired him to treal all his wives equally. But the moon remained". On which Daksha cursed him and goomed him to suffer from perpetual cnsumption. The moon, stricken with grief, now went out to seek all the holy places for alleviation of his disease, and after visiting many places in vain, (lingam) of Shiva, which had been lying there neglected on the seashore for ages. Shiva taking pity upon him, directed that he should came in brilliancy for fifteen days should recover his lost spendour. In gratitude for this boon, the moon erected a golden temple ever the great lingam, and named the deity Soma- nath of the Lord of the Moon)."
This story presents, in a mythical form, the first restoration of Somnath, which a few scholars attribute to some Somaraj, believed to be a Chapotkata (Chavra) ruler, of prabhas Kshetra. According to the Prabhas Khand of the Skanda Purana, the temple was built of gold by the moon in the Satya Yuga, of silver by Ravana in the Treta Yuga, of wood by Lord Krishna in the Dwapar Yuga, and lastly of stone by Bhimadeva Solanki of Anhillawad Pattan in the Kali Yuga.
This new temple of Bhimadeva and Kumarapal was attacked by Ulughakhan in A.D. 1297, by Ahmadshah in A.D. 1314, and by Shamsherkhan in A.D. 1318. Then it was restored by Mahipal, a Chudasama ruler of Southern Kathiawar, in A.D. 1325. Then again followed a series of invasions: by Muzaffarkhan in A.D. 1394, by Tatarjkhan in A.D. 1520: and last of all it was invaded in A.D. 1706, at the command of Aurangzeb. Soon after, in A.D. 1765. Ahalyabai Holkar of Indore built a new temple for Somnath, at a little distance from the old one. Here the god is still worshipped.
The accompanying photographs present vividly the remains of the great temple. It is one of those gems of architectural craftsmanship for which Gujarat stands unrivalled- the Rudra mahalaya at Sidhpur, the great temple at Vadnagar, the sun temple at Modhera and the Vimalshah’s temples on the summits of Abu and Girnar built by the Solanki kings of Gujarat and their ministers. The Somnath temple is built in a local variety of the Chalukyan (Vesara) style. Even in ruins, the interior of the porch is still very striking. In the words of Fergusson, "From what fragments of its sculptured decoprations remain, they must have been of great beauty, quite equal to anything we know of this class of their age."Most probably, it was like the temple of Neminath on Mount Girnar.
Now the temple, stripped of its marble, stands alone like the Kalika temple at Dabhoi, a match of it. There are three entrances to the perch, and a corridor round the central octagonal space, which was covered by the great shikhara, supported by eight pillars and eight arches. The walls on the north, south, and west sides have each two handsomely carved niches, in which there have been idols.
The Genesis or Somnath
Nothing is known to the Indian tradition about the origin of this great shrine. The story found in the Mahabharata and repeacted by alberuni seems rather to be a story of its restoration than of its foundation in mythical form. It runs thus:"Daksha was a demi- god created by Brahma for the purpose of creating animal and vegetable life. He had fifty daughters, of whom he gave in marriage twenty- seven, who now shine in heaven as the twenty- seven nakshatras (lunar mansions) to the moon. But themoon loved Rohini (the asterism in Taurus consisting of five stars) alone and devoted all his attention to her. The other twenty- six thereupon complained to their father, and Daksha scoldd the moon and desired him to treal all his wives equally. But the moon remained". On which Daksha cursed him and goomed him to suffer from perpetual cnsumption. The moon, stricken with grief, now went out to seek all the holy places for alleviation of his disease, and after visiting many places in vain, (lingam) of Shiva, which had been lying there neglected on the seashore for ages. Shiva taking pity upon him, directed that he should came in brilliancy for fifteen days should recover his lost spendour. In gratitude for this boon, the moon erected a golden temple ever the great lingam, and named the deity Soma- nath of the Lord of the Moon)."
This story presents, in a mythical form, the first restoration of Somnath, which a few scholars attribute to some Somaraj, believed to be a Chapotkata (Chavra) ruler, of prabhas Kshetra. According to the Prabhas Khand of the Skanda Purana, the temple was built of gold by the moon in the Satya Yuga, of silver by Ravana in the Treta Yuga, of wood by Lord Krishna in the Dwapar Yuga, and lastly of stone by Bhimadeva Solanki of Anhillawad Pattan in the Kali Yuga.
In the Age of the Mahabharata
Prabhas, according to the Mahabharata, was a very sacred place when Lord Krishna ruled over Surashtra (. 1400 BC.). The clean of the Yadavas to which Lord Krishna was thedistinguished head, used to pay regulare vitals to Prabhas on festival days. It was here that they, when celebrating an eclipse festival slew each other in ebriety and here Lord Krishna, the eighth in carnation of Vishnu, breathed his last.During the Historic Period
The first inscriptional mention of prabha as is found in a Nasik Cave In scription of Vashisti putra Pulumavi in which the king records his donationsgiven over to the Brahmans at this holy place.The Glory That was Somnath
A few Arabic and Persian writers have left for us the romantic descriptions of Somnath. The people of India." Says Ferisha following" "believed that souls after separating from their bodies came to Somnath, and the god assigned to each soul, by way of transmigration, a new body as it observed. They though that the tide rose and feel in order to worship the idols of Somnath. Somnath was the king while other idols were merely his door- keepers and chamberlains. A hundred thousand people used to collect together in the temple at the time of the solar and the lunar eclipses. Presents came to it from dispoint parts. The rulers of India had endowed it with absout ten thousand villages. A thousand Brahmans worshipped the idol continuously, and every night it was washed with fresh water, daily brought from the Ganges. A basket of flowers was also brought daily from Kashmir."The New Stone Temple
...Soon after the destruction of Somnath the wealthy people of Gujarat restored its lost glory as if nothing had happened to their national god. Bhimadeva I, the king of Gujarat who was a contemporary of Mahmud, built a new temple that was of stone for the first time. In A.D. 1168, Kumarapal remodeled and enriched it on the advice of the great Jain sage Hemchandracharya.This new temple of Bhimadeva and Kumarapal was attacked by Ulughakhan in A.D. 1297, by Ahmadshah in A.D. 1314, and by Shamsherkhan in A.D. 1318. Then it was restored by Mahipal, a Chudasama ruler of Southern Kathiawar, in A.D. 1325. Then again followed a series of invasions: by Muzaffarkhan in A.D. 1394, by Tatarjkhan in A.D. 1520: and last of all it was invaded in A.D. 1706, at the command of Aurangzeb. Soon after, in A.D. 1765. Ahalyabai Holkar of Indore built a new temple for Somnath, at a little distance from the old one. Here the god is still worshipped.
The Somnath Temple
A Fine Piece of the Gujarat ArchitectureThe accompanying photographs present vividly the remains of the great temple. It is one of those gems of architectural craftsmanship for which Gujarat stands unrivalled- the Rudra mahalaya at Sidhpur, the great temple at Vadnagar, the sun temple at Modhera and the Vimalshah’s temples on the summits of Abu and Girnar built by the Solanki kings of Gujarat and their ministers. The Somnath temple is built in a local variety of the Chalukyan (Vesara) style. Even in ruins, the interior of the porch is still very striking. In the words of Fergusson, "From what fragments of its sculptured decoprations remain, they must have been of great beauty, quite equal to anything we know of this class of their age."Most probably, it was like the temple of Neminath on Mount Girnar.
Now the temple, stripped of its marble, stands alone like the Kalika temple at Dabhoi, a match of it. There are three entrances to the perch, and a corridor round the central octagonal space, which was covered by the great shikhara, supported by eight pillars and eight arches. The walls on the north, south, and west sides have each two handsomely carved niches, in which there have been idols.
