SOMNATH Tourism, SOMNATH Travel Guide
About Somnath
Somnath is one of the twelve jyotirlingas located on the western coast of India. Somnath has high importance among religious tourists and pilgrims, who visit this magnificent Somnath temple to get blessings of Lord Shiva. The town of Somnath is also famous among tourists for its beautiful grey sand beach that forms temple's lonely seaside charm.
According to the Shivapurana, Lord Shiva is quoted as saying 'I am omnipresent, but I am especially in twelve forms and places.' These 12 places are now known as 12 Jyotirlingas and Somnath is one of these 12 Jyotirlingas. As per mythological belief, the very old temple of Somnath was originally built in gold by Somraj, the Moon God, and then rebuilt by Ravana in silver and then by Krishna in Wood, then by Bhimdev in stone. The temple of Somnath is said to be destroyed five times and reconstructed for the sixth time on the same foundation.
Somnath - Tourist Attractions
| Religious Tourist Attractions | ||
| Somnath Temple | Old Somnath Temple | Panch Pandava Gufa |
| Gita Mandir | Lakshminarayan Temple | Kamnath Mahadev Temple |
| Surya Mandir | Triveni Ghat | Parshuram Temple |
| Bhaluka Teerth | ||
| Historical Tourist Attractions | ||
| Junagadh Gate | ||
| Natural Tourist Attractions | ||
| Somnath Beach | Veraval Beach | |
Somnath History
Somnath is one of the most sacred of the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines of God Shiva. According to the legends, Soma or the Moon god was cursed by his father-in-law Daksha to be removed of his brilliance in the night. Soma then worshipped God Shiva to be blessed with recovery of the splendor for 15 days of month. To pay gratitude, Soma built the 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 absolution from Durvasa's curse.
The first historical temple in Somnath is believed to be built between 320 and 500 AD. The Somnath temple was frequented by pilgrims and was donated huge amount of wealth and jewellery by the tourists. The temple was destroyed and reconstructed during the initial centuries but little details are available about that.
In the 11th century, Mahmud Ghazni sacked the Somnath temple and took the temple treasures including the famous silver gate along with him to Afghanistan. The reconstructed Somnath temple was destroyed in 1297 AD by Allaudin Khilji's commander-inchief Afzal Khan, by Muzzafar Shah I in 1390, by Muhammad Begda in 1490, Muzzafar II in 1530 and Aurangzeb in 1706.
In 1783 Maharani Ahalyabai Holkar built another temple next to the original Somnath temple which was in poor condition. After independence Sardar Patel got the new temple reconstructed next to the 18th century construction by Holkar.