The temple city of Somnath or Prabhas Patan is situated in the state of Gujarat on the Arabian Sea. This is the first among the twelve Jyotirlings. Since ancient times, Prabhas Patan has been a pilgrimage center, being the confluence of the mythological Saraswati, Hiranya and Kapila. Legend has it that Lord Shiva’s Kalbhairav linga is situated at Prabhas. It is also associated with the moon as the Moon God is also said to have worshipped this Shivling. This is also the reason why this temple is popularly known as Somnath, the one named after the moon. The present temple, Kailash Mahameru Prasad is built in the Chalukya style of temple architecture and reflects the inherent skill of sompuras, Gujarat’s master masons. It has the shikhara, the Garbhagriha, the sabha mandap and the nritya mandap.
On the Southern side of the temple, on the wall at the sea shore, there is a pillar. It is called “Baanstambh” बाणस्तंभ्. On the top of the pillar is placed a globe of Earth and an arrow pierces through it. On the pole is inscribed “Aasmudrant Dakshindhuvparyant Abaadhit Jyotirmarga”. It means If you start travelling from Somnath Temple towards South in Arabian Sea, you will not meet any land until you reach the South Pole or the Antarctica. The temple has been built in such a position that there is no land between the Somnath temple and Antarctica.
This very sacred pilgrim centre is also called Prabhas Teerth. The temple houses one of the oldest consecrated Jyotir Lingas mentioned in Rigveda, Skanda Purana and Mahabharata. It is believed that the Shivlinga placed in the sanctum (Garbha Griha) of the temple actually freely levitated in air without any support. This is mentioned in the Puranas and also in the account given by Zakaria Al Qazwini, the famous astronomer and geographer. The present Somnath Linga is the largest of the 12 Jyotir Lingas. It is a greyish cylinder formed stone made of granite about 1m high and 60cm in diameter. The top is rounded and the Lingam is placed in a large silver plated Yoni.
In AD 1026, Mahmud of Ghazni first looted the temple, and then came Afzal Khan, the commander of Ala-ud-din Khilji and later Aurangzeb. It is said that the temple was looted and destroyed as many as seventeen times. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was instrumental in the construction of this present temple, an edifice reminding visitors of the splendour of the original Somnath temple. Renowned temple architect Prabhaschandar designed it and the first President of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad installed the Jyotirling in the new temple on May 11, 1951. The present temple is built in the Chalukya style of temple architecture and reflects the inherent skill of sompuras, Gujarat’s master masons. It has the Shikhara, the Garbhagriha, the Sabha Mandap and the Nritya Mandap.
The peak of the temple when seen against the sun reveals Nandi & Trishul on the Flag (Dwaj) atop the tower.
The roof of the temple has beautiful architecture. And it looks more grandeur early morning when first rays of sun fall on it.
Close by is the very old Sun Temple, which dates back to time of the original Temple of Somnath and gives a clue what the original temple looked like. This very old temple give an indication of what the original Somnath Temple was like.
In the northern main street leading to the temple is the Prabhas Patan Museum. The museum displays remains from the earlier Somnath Temples which were found on excavations. Those relics tells us the glorious past of this temple and its architecture. I’ll cover that with the detailed history and photographs of those relics of the temple later.
Not to be missed, just few meters away from the temple, on the Arabian Sea coast are found naturally formed Shivlings. Few lie on the coast itself while couple of them are in the sea with sea water doing the abhishek.
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Thanks for all the details. Interesting facts.
Amazed to find those shivlings in sea!
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Thanks Vikram. Even I was surprised to see those shivlings there.
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wow!!! that is so interesting!!
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Thanks a lot.
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no problem! check out my blog when you get the chance
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Teah will do so. Following it and just now got the notification of a new post. Loved your photographs!!!
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thank you 🙂
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The temple roof is so intricately designed. Looks awesome!
Looking forward to the historical part of the temple next.
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Thanks Arpan. Will come up with that soon.
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Nice info here, Thx. I visited Somnath many years back but m didn’t see or know about many of the things you’ve mentioned. Just saw the pillar. The beach has a lot of shells, some very nice to take away too. Lovely place. Thx sharing
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Thanks Kamal. Even I visited the temple earlier say about 20 yrs back. I had no idea about the pillar then. But this time round made it a point to know the details and also the history.
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And thanks for sharing this wonderful info. Many visitors may miss these points. I’d like to reblog this post please.
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Yes sure, why not. More the people know about it the better. I’ll be soon posting the second part of this article. The history of this temple starting from Puranas. Also post photographs of old temple that they found during archaeology.
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Great, looking forward to the post and pics. Its a historic temple and so important in our culture. Thx 🙂
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Though I visited the temple but never knew many of these details. Thanks ton for sharing. Even the museum was closed so missed it.
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Thanks Pranav. Will share the museum pictures soon.
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Nice to get all the details. Thanks for sharing BT.
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Visited Somnath last week. Very keen to know about the excavations and the ancient relics.
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