Somnath Temple in Gujarat Somnath Temple Jyotirlinga is situated at Somnath Patan (the south coast of Saurashtra), near Veraval in (Prabhas Kshetra) Kathaiwad district in Gujarat. Somnath is considered to be the first of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Shiva and is a revered pilgrimage center in India.

The Skanda Purana describes the Sparsa Linga of Somnath as one bright as the sun, the size of an egg, lodged underground. The Mahabharata also refers to the Prabhasa Kshetra and the legend of the moon worshipping Shiva.

Shree Somnath is first among the twelve Aadi Jyotirlings of India. It is the holy place of the Aadi Jyotirling Shree Somnath Mahadev and it also has the sacred soil from where Bhagvan Shri Krishna took his last journey to his neejdham.

Somnath temple stands at the shore of the Arabian ocean on the western corner of Indian subcontinent in Gujarat State. This pilgrimage is one of the oldest and finds its reference in the ancient texts like Skandpuran, Shreemad Bhagavat, Shivpuran etc. The hymn from Rig-Veda quoted below mention the Bhagvan Someshwar along with the great pilgrimage like Gangaji, Yamunaji and Eastward Saraswati. This signifies the ancient value of this Tirthdham.

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.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.  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. Out of these all wives, Chandra was very partial to Rohini and showed lot more love and affection to her. The remaining twenty six wives not only felt neglected but also insulted. They were disappointed with their husband and went and complained to their father. Raja Daksha was upset to see his daughters suffer. Thus he tried twice to convince his son-in-law to change himself, but in vain. And seeing no change in Chandra’s attitude, he cursed that he would loose his brightness and go on “decreasing” in size.

Chandra became very sad after having been cursed. He ran to Lord Brahma and prayed for solution to the curse.With the advice of Prajapita Brahma, Lord Brahma told him that the only way out was to worship Lord Shiva at Prabhas Kshetra (Pauranic name of Saurashtra Region). Brahma told him to worship Lord Shiva by Chanting Mahamrityunjay.

Chandra went to Prabhas Kshetra. There he made a Parthiv Ling of Lord Shiv and did its Pooja. There after he chanted Mahamrityunjay for 10 Crore times on a Rudraksh Mala. The Penance ended after 6 months.

Pleased with the great penance and devotion of Moon, Bhagvan Shiva blessed him and relieved him from the curse of darkness partially, thus causing the periodic waning of moon. . 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.

Chandra (Moon) had married the twenty seven daughters of Raja Daksha. This 27 Seven Daughters Their names are:

The shore temple of Somnath is believed to have been built in 4 phases-in gold by Lord Soma, in silver by Ravi, in wood by lord Krishna and in stone by King Bhimadeva.

It has with stood the six-repeated desecration by the Muslim invaders. The very existence of this temple is symbol of reconstructive spirit and cultural unity of our society.

The seventh existing temple is built in the Kailas Mahameru Prasad style. The temple is consisting of Garbhgruh, Sabhamandap and Nrityamandap with a 150 feet high Shikhar. The Kalash at the top of the Shikhar weighs 10 tons and the Dhwajdand is 27 feet tall and 1 foot in circumference.

Somnath temple with Sandalwood. Located as it is, it is widely believed that if one were to sail from here in a straight line, the end of the journey would be at the North Pole, without having to travel over land.

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 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.

Somnath temple stands at the shore of the Arabian ocean on the western corner of Indian subcontinent in Gujarat State. This pilgrimage is one of the oldest and finds its reference in the ancient texts like Skandpuran,

Shreemad Bhagavat, Shivpuran etc. The hymn from Rig-Veda quoted below mention the Bhagvan Someshwar along with the great pilgrimage like Gangaji, Yamunaji and Eastward Saraswati.This signifies the ancient value of this Tirthdham. Somnath is in Prabhas Patan very near to Veraval.

Somnath means “The Protector of Moon God.” The Somnath Temple is known as ‘the Shrine Eternal,’ as although the temple has been destroyed six times it has been rebuilt every single time


                                                                     

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