The eternal shrine that has been destroyed six times and rebuilt seven — standing today on the Arabian Sea at Prabhas Patan, Veraval, Gujarat, as the first and supreme Jyotirlinga. Where the Moon God built a golden temple for Lord Shiva, and where India's ancient will to worship has proved stronger than every force of destruction.
Somnath — "The Lord (Nath) of the Moon (Soma)" — is the first and most ancient of the twelve Jyotirlingas. According to the Shiva Purana, the Moon God Chandra built the original temple here in gold to worship Lord Shiva after being released from a curse. The Rigveda mentions the site as Prabhasa Kshetra — one of the most sacred confluences in all of India, where three sacred rivers meet the Arabian Sea.
The temple's history is the most dramatic in India — repeatedly destroyed by invaders from Mahmud of Ghazni (1024 CE) onwards, and rebuilt each time by Hindu kings with absolute determination. The current temple — built in the Chalukya style (Kailasha Maha Meru Prasada) of Somanatha Chalukyas — was reconstructed under the guidance of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel after Independence, inaugurated by President Rajendra Prasad on December 11, 1995. The rebuilding was itself a political and spiritual act: India's first Home Minister chose to restore the most violently desecrated shrine as a symbol of the nation's civilizational continuity.
No temple in the world has been destroyed and rebuilt as many times as Somnath. Each destruction was an attempt to erase India's sacred identity. Each rebuilding was a declaration that it cannot be erased.
According to the Shiva Purana, the Moon God Chandra (Soma) built the original Somnath temple in pure gold to worship Lord Shiva after being freed from a curse by Daksha. This mythological foundation establishes the site's antiquity beyond historical record.
Founded · Gold TempleHistorical records suggest a magnificent silver temple at the site, associated in tradition with Ravana's worship of Shiva here. The Ramayana connection places Somnath within the sacred geography of the epics.
Silver TempleThe temple at its pre-invasion peak — described by Arab travellers as one of the wonders of the world, with enormous wealth, 56 pillars inlaid with jewels, 300 barbers shaving pilgrims' heads, 300 dancing girls, 200 musicians, and a daily offering of water from the Ganga brought by foot.
Greatest SplendourThe most infamous desecration in Indian history. Mahmud of Ghazni attacked Somnath, killed 50,000 defenders, looted the temple's immense treasures, and destroyed the Shiva Lingam. The broken Lingam pieces were carried to Ghazni and placed at the entrance of his mosque. The event scarred the Hindu psyche and became the origin of one of India's most traumatic collective memories.
First Destruction — 1024 CEWithin two years of Mahmud's attack, King Bhima I of the Chaulukya dynasty began reconstruction. King Bhoj of Malwa joined the effort. The temple was rebuilt in stone and brick in a mere few years — one of the fastest and most determined sacred reconstructions in history.
Rebuilt · 1042 CEAlauddin Khalji's army (1299), Muzaffar Shah I (1395), Mahmud Begada (1451), and Aurangzeb (1701) each attacked and damaged or destroyed the temple. After each desecration, Hindu kings rebuilt — Mahipala Deva, the Solanki kings, and various Rajput rulers. The pattern repeated: destruction followed within years by reconstruction.
Four More DestructionsIn 1947, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel visited the ruins of Somnath and announced its reconstruction — against the wishes of Prime Minister Nehru and some Congress leaders. K. M. Munshi headed the committee. The current Chalukya-style temple was built using stone from Bansi Paharpur quarry (Rajasthan). President Rajendra Prasad inaugurated the completed temple on December 11, 1995. The eternal shrine was reborn for the seventh — and, we trust, final — time.
Seventh Temple · 1995Somnath is unique among all Jyotirlingas in that the temple faces the sea — the Shiva Linga is oriented so that the priest performing abhishek faces the Arabian Sea. No land exists between Somnath and Antarctica — a fact inscribed on the famous Baan Stambha (arrow pillar) in the temple complex, which points southward and reads: "Aasetu Himachala paryantam" — "From the shores to the Himalayas." The relationship between Shiva and the sea here is elemental and overwhelming.
The name Somnath means "Lord of Soma" — Lord of the Moon. The story of Soma (Chandra, the Moon God) building this temple to worship Shiva after being freed from a curse by Daksha places the origin of Somnath in cosmic time — before human history. The phases of the moon, which governed ancient Indian calendars, agriculture, and ritual, are all connected to this site. The crescent moon on Shiva's matted hair has its supreme expression here at the first Jyotirlinga.
At Somnath, the Kapila, Hiran, and Sarasvati rivers converge and meet the Arabian Sea — a Triveni Sangam considered among the most sacred in India. Pilgrims bathe at this confluence before entering the temple. The Prabhasa Kshetra — the sacred zone surrounding Somnath — is mentioned in the Mahabharata as the spot where Lord Krishna passed from his earthly form after being struck by an arrow.
The Mahabharata states that after the Yadava civil war, Lord Krishna came to Prabhasa (the sacred zone of Somnath), lay beneath a peepal tree, and was struck by an arrow shot by a hunter named Jara who mistook his foot for a deer. Krishna consciously chose to depart from his earthly body here. Somnath is therefore not only Shiva's shrine but also the site of Krishna's physical departure — making it doubly sacred to both Shaiva and Vaishnava traditions.
The Baan Stambha (Arrow Pillar) standing at Somnath's coast bears the inscription: "Aasetu Himachala paryantam" — pointing south from Somnath toward Antarctica with the declaration that no land stands between this point and the South Pole. It is a statement of geographical fact and philosophical pride — this temple stands at the edge of the known world, facing infinite ocean, marking the southern limit of the sacred land of India.
More than any other site in India, Somnath represents the idea that sacred identity cannot be permanently erased — that the impulse to worship is stronger than the impulse to destroy. Six times razed, seven times rebuilt. The current temple — inaugurated in free India — is not merely a religious monument but a civilizational statement: we are still here. We will always rebuild. Somnath is eternal.
Sacred offerings to Lord Somnath — the first Jyotirlinga, the eternal shrine on the Arabian Sea — in the ancient Vedic tradition at the most sacred site on India's western coast.
Let us arrange your Somnath VIP darshan, Rudrabhishek, Triveni Sangam snan, Sound & Light show, and Gujarat Jyotirlinga circuit. The eternal temple awaits on the Arabian Sea. जय सोमनाथ!
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