Somanath Temple - The First Jyotirlinga of India

The Somnath temple located in Veraval, Prabhas Patan Kathiawad district, near Junagadh in Saurashtra on the western coast of Gujarat State. Somanath Jyotirlinga is the first among the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva in India.

Somnath Jyotirlinga is set up by Chandra or Moon God,after wards its become famous as Somanath Jyotirlinga Temple of first Jyotirlinga among 12 Jyotirlinga(there are 64 Jyotirlingas).

Existence of First Jyotirlinga, the Somanath Temple

The Moon God was married to Daksha Prajapati’s 27 daughters. But out of his 27 wives He only loved and taking care of Rohini and neglected the rest. After understanding that the Lord Chandra(Moon God) was loving only Rohini,Daksha Prajapati, warned two times and finally cursed the Moon God,that he would soon lose his entire luster and radiance. The anxious Moon then went to Prabhas Patan to pray to Lord Shiva and get rid of the curse. Ultimately, Lord Shiva got impressed by His pray and freed Him of the curse. Out of gratitude Moon God set up a Jyotirlinga at this place which later become famous as the Somnath Temple.

This Temple is first built in gold,then in silver, then in wood finally built in stone. During Satya Yuga,the temple was built for the first time in gold by king Somraj. Ravana had built it out of silver in Treta Yuga. Lord Krishna had built it out of wood in Dwapara Yuga. Later King Bhimadev had built the temple out of stone.

Eternal Shrine of Earth

This temple is often referred to as the ‘Eternal Shrine’ because historical records say that this temple has been destroyed several times (around 17 times) by invaders and have been reconstructed several times too.

The present temple was reconstructed in Chaulukya style of Hindu temple in 1947 under the orders of the then Home Minister of India Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel the Iron Man of India, Prabhashankar Sompura was chosen as the architect and thus the present day Somnath temple came into existence on 11th May, 1951, after the death of Iron Man Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The then president of India, Rajendra Prasad inaugurated the temple.

Milan Tomic

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