Somnath Temple |
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The legendary shore temple
of Somnath is located near
Veraval and is about 80 kms
from Junagadh. The Somnath
temple is one of the twelve
most sacred shrines
dedicated to the Lord Shiva
and a jyotirlinga. This
temple has a very long
history. According to the
legends, the Somnath temple
is very old and was
originally built in gold by
the Somraj, the Moon God.
Later, it was rebuilt by
Ravana, in silver; then by Krishna
in wood and Bhimdev in
stone.
The current temple was built
as per the traditional designs on
the original site by the
sea. Today, this majestic
temple is a replica of the
earlier temple. Mahmud of
Ghazni, upon hearing the
description of the richness
of the Somnath temple by Al
Biruni, an Arab traveller,
visited this temple in 1024
AD. |
At that time, this
temple had about 300
musicians, 500 dancing girls
and 300 barbers to shave off
the heads of pilgrims. After a 2 days battle,
Mahmud destroyed the temple
and carried away jewels and gold to his
homeland. Hence, a tradition
got started, the Muslims
destroy the temples and the
Hindus rebuilt them. The Somnath Temple was raided
again in 1927, 1934 and
1706. In 1706, this temple
was raided by the Mughal
emperor Aurangzeb. In all,
the Somnath temple was
rebuilt and destroyed seven
times. This temple was
finally rebuilt in 1950 with
the support of Sardar
Vallabhabhai Patel. |
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How to get here |
By Air:
The nearest airport is
located at Keshod, about 47
kms which is connected with
Mumbai.
By Rail:
The nearest railway station
is located at Veraval, about
5 Kms.
By Road:
Somnath is connected to
various cities in Gujarat. |
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