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{{short description|Hindu temple in Gujarat, India}}
{{Redirect|Somanath}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox religious building
| religious_affiliation = [[Hinduism]]
| name                  = Somnath Temple
| native_name           = Somnath Jyotirlinga
| image                 = Somanath mandir (cropped).jpg
| alt                   = Somnath temple in Gujarat
| coordinates           = {{coord|20|53|16.9|N|70|24|5.0|E|type:landmark_region:IN|display=inline,title}}
| map_type              = India Gujarat#India
| map_relief            = yes
| state                 = [[Gujarat]]
| country               = [[India]]
| district              = [[Gir Somnath]]
| locale                = [[Prabhas Patan]], [[Veraval]]
| deity                 = [[Shiva]]
| architecture          = [[Mandir]]
| governing_body        = [https://somnath.org/ Shree Somnath Trust]
| temple_quantity       = 
| monument_quantity     = 
| inscriptions          = 
| year_completed        = 1951
| creator               = * Unknown - <small>by Unknown </small><br /> (Many constructions)
* 1169    - <small>by [[Kumarapala (Chaulukya dynasty)|Kumarapala]]</small>
* 1308    - <small>by [[Mahipala I (Chudasama dynasty)|Mahipal I]]</small>
* 1950    - <small>by The Somnath Trust</small><br /> (Present structure)
| date_demolished       = * 1026 <small>by [[Mahmud of Ghazni]]</small><br />
* 1299 <small>by [[Ulugh Khan]]</small>
* 1395 <small>by [[Muzaffar Shah I]]</small>
* 1706 <small>by [[Aurangzeb]]</small>
| website               = {{URL|https://somnath.org/}}
}}
{{Hinduism small}}
{{Saivism}}
'''Somnath Temple''' is a [[Hindu temple]], located in [[Prabhas Patan]], [[Veraval]] in [[Gujarat]], [[India]]. It is one of the most sacred pilgrimage sites the [[Tirtha (Hinduism)|Tirtha Kshetra]] for [[Hindus]] and is the first among the twelve ''[[jyotirlinga]]'' shrines of [[Shiva]].<ref name="somnathorg-1">{{cite web |url=http://www.somnath.org/home/somnath-darshan |title=Somnath darshan |publisher=Official website of Somnath Temple |access-date=19 December 2016 |archive-date=28 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828025607/http://www.somnath.org/home/somnath-darshan |url-status=dead}}</ref> It is unclear when the first version of the Somnath temple was built, with estimates varying between the early centuries of the 1st millennium and about the 9th century CE.{{sfn|Dhaky|Shastri|1974}}{{sfn|Rosa Maria Cimino|1977}} Various texts, including the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' and ''[[Bhagavata Purana]]'', mention a ''[[Tirtha (Hinduism)|tirtha]]'' (pilgrimage site) at Prabhas Patan on the coastline of Saurashtra, where the later temple was, but archaeology has not found traces of an early temple, though there was a settlement there.{{sfn|Thapar|2005|p=18-19, Chapter 2}}<ref>{{harvnb|Mishra|Ray|2016|p=22}}: "In the case of Somanatha, one has to rely solely on literary evidence as even though excavations reveal an early settlement at the site, there is no evidence for the early existence of a temple at the site...In the ''Mahabharata'', Prabhas Patan has been described as a sacred tirtha located on the coast of the sea (''Vana Parva'', Ch. 109)"</ref>{{sfn |Shastri |Tagare |2004 |pp=1934, 2113}}

The temple was reconstructed several times in the past after repeated destruction by multiple Muslim invaders and rulers, notably starting with an attack by [[Mahmud Ghazni]] in January 1026.{{sfn|Yagnik|Sheth|2005|pp=39–40, 47–50}}{{sfn|Thapar|2005|pp=36–37}}<ref name="Catherine B. Asher, Cynthia Talbot 42">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1GEWAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT42 |title=India before Europe |page=42 |author1=Catherine B. Asher |author2= Cynthia Talbot |year= 2006 |publisher=Sterling Publishers |isbn=9781139915618}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Thapar|2004|pp=68–69}}</ref>

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, historians and [[Archaeology|archaeologists]] of the colonial era actively studied the Somnath temple because its ruins showed a historic Hindu temple that was turning into an Islamic mosque.{{sfn|Cousens|1931|pp=15–18}}<ref name=sykesBL>[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/t/019pho0001000s7u00788000.html The Somanatha temple at Prabhas Patan], D.H. Sykes and Henry Counsens, British Library Archives (2021)</ref>{{sfn|Shakshi|2012|pp=304–306 with Figure 4}} After India's independence, those ruins were demolished, and the present Somnath temple was reconstructed in the [[Māru-Gurjara architecture|Māru-Gurjara style]] of [[Hindu temple architecture]]. The contemporary Somnath temple's reconstruction was started under the orders of the first [[Deputy Prime Minister of India]], [[Vallabhbhai Patel]]. The reconstruction was completed in May 1951.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wVr_f_gXOX4C&q=Somnath+Temple&pg=PA148 |title=Hindu culture during and after Muslim rule: survival and subsequent challenges |author=Gopal, Ram |publisher=M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. |year=1994 |isbn=81-85880-26-3 |page=148}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sICSb-UMiQYC&q=Somnath+Temple&pg=PA84 |title=The Hindu nationalist movement and Indian politics: 1925 to the 1990s |author=Jaffrelot, Christophe |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers |year=1996 |isbn=1-85065-170-1 |page=84}}</ref>

==Location==
The Somnath temple is located along the coastline in Prabhas Patan, Veraval, [[Saurashtra (region)|Saurashtra]] region of Gujarat. It is about {{Convert|400|km|mi|0}} southwest of [[Ahmedabad]], {{Convert|82|km|mi|0}} south of [[Junagadh]] – another major archaeological and pilgrimage site in Gujarat. It is about {{Convert|7|km|mi|0}} southeast of the Veraval railway junction, about {{Convert|130|km|mi|0}} southeast of the [[Porbandar Airport|Porbandar airport]] and about {{Convert|85|km|mi|0}} west of the [[Diu Airport|Diu airport]].<ref>[https://www.gujarattourism.com/saurashtra/gir-somnath/somnath-temple.html Shree Somnath Jyotirlinga Temple], Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited – a State Government company, Government of Gujarat (2021)</ref>

The Somnath temple is located close to the ancient trading port of [[Veraval]], one of three in Gujarat from where Indian merchants departed to trade goods. The 11th-century Persian historian [[Al-Biruni]] states that Somnath has become so famous because "it was the harbor for seafaring people and a station for those who went to and fro between [[Sufala]] in the country of [[Zanj]] (east Africa) and [[China]]". Combined with its repute as an eminent pilgrimage site, its location was well known to the kingdoms within the Indian subcontinent.{{sfn|Chakravarti|2020|pp=Chapter 11}}{{sfn|Mishra|Ray|2016|pp=234–241}} Literature and epigraphical evidence suggest that the medieval-era Veraval port was also actively trading with the Middle East and Southeast Asia. This brought wealth and fame to the Veraval area, as well as the temple.{{sfn|Mishra|Ray|2016|pp=14, 184–187, 234–241}}

The site of Prabhas Patan was occupied during the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]], 2000–1200 BCE. It was one of very few sites in the [[Junagadh district]] to be so occupied. After abandonment in 1200 BCE, it was reoccupied in 400 BCE and continued into the historical period. Prabhas is also close to the other sites similarly occupied: Junagadh, [[Dwarka]], Padri and [[Bharuch]].{{sfn|Mishra|Ray|2016|pp=14, 184–187, 234–241}}

==Nomenclature and significance==
Somnath means "Lord of the [[Chandra|Soma]]"  or "moon".{{refn|group=note|In anthropomorphic representations, a crescent of the moon is shown near Shiva's ''jata-mukuta'' (hair). This iconography appears in early texts and temples dated to the 6th-century.{{sfn|Rao|1985|pp=26–30, Plates VII & VIII}}}} The site is also called ''Prabhasa'' ("place of splendor").{{sfn|Eck|1999|p=291}} Somnath temple has been a ''[[jyotirlinga]]'' site for the Hindus, and a holy place of pilgrimage (''[[Tirtha (Hinduism)|tirtha]])''. It is one of five most revered sites on the seacoast of India, along with the nearby [[Dwarka|Dwaraka]] in [[Gujarat]], [[Puri]] in [[Odisha]], [[Rameswaram]] and [[Chidambaram]] in [[Tamil Nadu]].<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Diana L. |last1=Eck |title=India's "Tīrthas": "Crossings" in Sacred Geography |jstor=1062459 |journal=History of Religions |year=1981 |pages=335, context: 323–344 |volume=20 |issue=4 |doi=10.1086/462878 |s2cid=161997590 |url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:25499831|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Scriptural mentions==
Many Hindu texts provide a list of the most sacred Shiva pilgrimage sites, along with a guide for visiting the site. The best known were the ''Mahatmya'' genre of texts. Of these, Somnatha temple tops the list of ''jyotirlingas'' in the ''Jnanasamhita'' – chapter 13 of the ''[[Shiva Purana]]'', and the oldest known text with a list of ''jyotirlingas''. Other texts include the ''Varanasi Mahatmya'' (found in ''Skanda Purana''), the ''Shatarudra Samhita'' and the ''Kothirudra Samhita''.{{sfn|Fleming|2009|pp=54, 74–75}}{{refn|group=note|In 2007, Fleming dated the ''Jnanasamhita'' to the 10th century, while he suggests a 12th-century date in 2009.{{sfn|Fleming|2009|loc=p. 68, footnote 19}} Others such as Hazra, Rocher suggest late 10th-century.{{sfn|Rocher|1986|pp=222–227}}}}  All either directly mention the Somnath temple as the number one of twelve sites, or call the top temple as "Somesvara" in Saurashtra – a synonymous term for this site in these texts.{{sfn|Dhaky|Shastri|1974|p=32 with footnotes}}{{sfn|Thapar|2004|p=24}}{{sfn|Eck|1999|p=291, Quote: "Among them is Somesvara, or Somnath, the Moon's Lord", located on the seacoast in the western peninsula of Gujarat."}}{{refn|group=note|In addition to the one at Somnath, the other jyotirlingas are [[Mallikarjuna Temple, Srisailam|Mallikarjuna]] at Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, [[Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga|Mahakaleswar]] at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, [[Omkareshwar]] in Madhya Pradesh, [[Kedarnath]] in Uttrakhand, [[Bhimashankar]] at Pune in Maharashtra, [[Kashi Vishwanath Temple|Viswanath]] at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, [[Tryambakeshwar]] at Nashik in Maharashtra, [[Vaidyanath Jyotirlinga|Vaijyanath]] Temple in Deoghar District of Jharkhand, [[Aundha Nagnath]] at Aundha in Hingoli District in Maharashtra, [[Ramanathaswamy Temple]] at Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu and [[Grishneshwar]] at Ellora near Aurangabad, in Maharashtra.{{sfn| Venugopalam|2003|pp=92–95}}{{sfn|Chaturvedi|2006|pp=58–72}}}} The exact date of these texts is unknown, but based on references they make to other texts and ancient poets or scholars, these have been generally dated between the 10th and 12th century, with some dating it much earlier and others a bit later.{{sfn|Fleming|2009|loc=p. 68, footnote 19}}{{sfn|Rocher|1986|pp=222–227}}

The Somnath temple is not mentioned in ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism, but the "Prabhasa-Pattana" is mentioned as a ''tirtha'' (pilgrimage site).{{sfn|Thapar|2005|p=18-19, Chapter 2}} For example, the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' (c. 400 CE in its mature form){{Citation needed|reason=This is a very late dating for the Mahabharata. Patanjali's Mahabhasya dated to the late 1st mill BCE mentions characters from the epic.|date=January 2024}}<ref>https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Mahabharata-VOL-2.pdf Page 76</ref> in Chapters 109, 118 and 119 of the Book Three (''[[Vana Parva]]''), and Sections 10.45 and 10.78 of the ''[[Bhagavata Purana]]'' state Prabhasa to be a ''tirtha'' on the coastline of Saurashtra.{{sfn|Mishra|Ray|2016|pp=22–23}}{{sfn |Shastri |Tagare |2004 |pp=1934, 2113}}

[[Alf Hiltebeitel]] – a Sanskrit scholar known for his translations and studies on Indic texts including the ''Mahabharata'', states that the appropriate context for the legends and mythologies in the ''Mahabharata'' are the Vedic mythologies which it borrowed, integrated and re-adapted for its times and its audience.{{sfn|Hiltebeitel|2001|pp = 139, 141–144, 151–152 with footnotes}} The ''[[Brahmana]]'' layer of the [[Vedas|Vedic literature]] already mention ''tirtha'' related to the Saraswati river. However, given the river was nowhere to be seen when the ''Mahabharata'' was compiled and finalized, the Saraswati legend was modified. It vanishes into an underground river, then emerges as an underground river at holy sites for ''sangam'' (confluence) already popular with the Hindus. The ''Mahabharata'' then integrates the Saraswati legend of the Vedic lore with the Prabhasa ''tirtha'', states Hiltebeitel.{{sfn| Hiltebeitel|2001|pp = 139, 141–144, 151–152 with footnotes}} The critical editions of the ''Mahabharata'', in several chapters and books mentions that this "Prabhasa" is at a coastline near [[Dvārakā|Dvaraka]]. It is described as a sacred site where [[Arjuna]] and [[Balarama]] go on ''tirtha'', a site where Lord [[Krishna]] chooses to go and spends his final days, then dies.{{sfn| Hiltebeitel|2001|pp = 139, 141–144, 151–152 with footnotes}}

Catherine Ludvik – a Religious Studies and Sanskrit scholar, concurs with Hiltebeitel. She states that the ''Mahabharata'' mythologies borrow from the Vedic texts but modify them from Brahmin-centered "sacrificial rituals" to ''tirtha rituals'' that are available to everyone – the intended audience of the great epic.{{sfn|Ludvik |2007 |pp=100–103 with footnotes}} More specifically, she states that the sacrificial sessions along the Saraswati river found in sections such as of ''Pancavimsa Brahmana'' were modified to ''tirtha'' sites in the context of the Saraswati river in sections of ''Vana Parva'' and ''Shalya Parva''.{{sfn|Ludvik |2007 |pp=100–103 with footnotes}} Thus the mythology of ''Prabhasa'' in the ''Mahabharata'', which it states to be "by the sea, near Dwaraka". This signifies an expanded context of pilgrimage as a "Vedic ritual equivalent", integrating ''Prabhasa'' that must have been already important as a ''tirtha'' site when the ''Vana Parva'' and ''Shalya Parva'' compilation was complete.{{sfn|Ludvik |2007 |pp=100–103 with footnotes}}{{refn|group=note|The date for the critical edition of the complete ''Mahabharata'' is generally accepted to be c. 400 CE.<ref>Wendy Doniger (2015), [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mahabharata Mahabharata:Hindu literature], Encyclopaedia Britannica</ref>}}

The 5th century poem ''[[Raghuvaṃśa|Raghuvamsa]]'' of [[Kalidasa]] mentions Somanatha-Prabhasa as a ''tirtha'' along with [[Allahabad|Prayaga]], [[Pushkar]]a, [[Gokarnanatheshwara Temple|Gokarna]]. Bathing in one of these ''tirthas'' is meant to release one from the cycle of births and deaths.<ref name=DLEck>{{cite book |last=Eck |first=Diana L. |title=India: A Sacred Geography |publisher=Harmony |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-385-53191-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rNlJOSf__xYC |pages=82–83}}</ref>{{refn|group=note|Kalidas gives a separate list of ''jyotirlingas'', in which Gokarna is included, but Prabhasa is not.<ref name=DLEck/>}}

Archaeologically, there is no evidence that a temple existed at the site in ancient times.{{sfn|Thapar|2005|p=18-19, Chapter 2}}<ref>{{harvnb|Mishra|Ray|2016|p=22}} "In the case of Somanatha, one has to rely solely on literary evidence as even though excavations reveal an early settlement at the site, there is no evidence for the early existence of a temple at the site...In the ''Mahabharata'', Prabhas Patan has been described as a sacred tirtha located on the coast of the sea (''Vana Parva'', Ch. 109)"</ref>

==History==
The site of Somnath has been a pilgrimage site from ancient times on account of being a ''Triveni Sangam'' (the confluence of three rivers: Kapila, Hiran and Saraswati). [[Soma (deity)|Soma]], the Moon god, is believed to have lost his lustre due to a curse, and he bathed in the Sarasvati River at this site to regain it. The result is said to be the waxing and waning of the moon. The name of the town, ''Prabhasa'', meaning lustre, as well as the alternative name ''Someshvara'' ("the lord of the moon" or "the moon god"), arise from this tradition.{{sfn|Thapar|2005|pp=18, 23–24}}

[[File:Somnath temple ruins (1869).jpg|thumb|Ruined Somnath temple, 1869]]
The name ''Someshvara'' begins to appear starting in the 9th century. The [[Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty|Gurjara-Pratihara]] king [[Nagabhata II]] ({{reign|805|833}}) recorded that he has visited ''tirthas'' in Saurashtra, including ''Someshvara''.<ref>{{harvnb|Dhaky|Shastri|1974|p=32}} cited in {{harvnb|Thapar|2005|p=23}}</ref> The [[Chaulukya]] (Solanki) king [[Mularaja]] possibly built the first temple for ''Soma'' ("moon god") at the site sometime before 997 CE, even though some historians believe that he may have renovated a smaller earlier temple.{{sfn|Thapar|2005|pp=23–24}}{{refn|group=note|The post-1950 excavations of the Somnath site have unearthed the earliest known version of the Somnath temple. The excavations showed the foundations of a 10th-century temple, notable broken parts and details of a major, well decorated version of a temple. [[Madhusudan Dhaky]] believes it to have been the one that was destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni.{{sfn|Dhaky|1998|pp=285–287}}{{sfn|Dhaky|Shastri|1974|pp=1–7}}
B.K. Thapar, the archaeologist who did the excavation, stated that there was definitely a temple structure at Somnath-Patan in the 9th century, but none  before.{{sfn|Rosa Maria Cimino|1977|pp=381-382}}}}

[[File:Map_of_the_Ghaznavid_Empire.png|thumb|300px|[[Mahmud of Ghazni]], the Turkic Muslim ruler of the [[Ghaznavid Empire]], raided India as far as [[Somnath]], [[Mathura]] and [[Kannauj]] in [[Gurjara-Pratihara]] territory.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chandra |first1=Satish |title=Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206-1526) - Part One |date=2004 |publisher=Har-Anand Publications |isbn=978-81-241-1064-5 |pages=19–20 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L5eFzeyjBTQC&pg=PA19 |language=en |author-link=Satish Chandra (historian)}}</ref>]]
In 1026, during the reign of [[Bhima I]], the Turkic Muslim ruler [[Mahmud of Ghazni]] raided and plundered the Somnath temple, breaking its ''jyotirlinga''. He took away a booty of 20 million dinars.{{sfn|Yagnik|Sheth|2005|pp=39–40}}{{sfn|Thapar|2005|pp=36–37}} According to Romila Thapar, relying on a 1038 inscription of a [[Kadambas of Goa|Kadamba king of Goa]], the condition of Somnath temple in 1026 after Ghazni's is unclear because the inscription is "puzzlingly silent" about Ghazni's raid or temple's condition. This inscription, states Thapar, could suggest that instead of destruction it may have been a desecration because the temple seems to have been repaired quickly within twelve years and was an active pilgrimage site by 1038.{{sfn|Thapar|2005|p=75}}

The raid of 1026 by  Mahmud is confirmed by the 11th-century Persian historian Al-Biruni, who worked in the court of Mahmud, who accompanied Mahmud's troops between 1017 and 1030 CE on some occasions, and who lived in the northwest Indian subcontinent region – over regular intervals, though not continuously.{{sfn|Khan|1976|pp=90–91 with footnotes}} The invasion of Somnath site in 1026 CE is also confirmed by other Islamic historians such as Gardizi, Ibn Zafir and Ibn al-Athir. However, two Persian sources – one by adh-Dhahabi and other by al-Yafi'i – state it as 1027 CE, which is likely incorrect and late by a year, according to Khan – a scholar known for his studies on Al-Biruni and other Persian historians.{{sfn|Khan|1976|pp=95–96 with footnotes}} According to Al-Biruni:

{{Blockquote|The location of the Somnath temple was a little less than three miles west of the mouth of the river Sarasvati. The temple was situated on the coast of the Indian ocean so that at the time of flow the idol was bathed by its water. Thus that moon was perpetually occupied in bathing the idol and serving it."|Translated by M.S. Khan{{sfn|Khan|1976|pp=95–96 with footnotes}}}}

Al-Biruni states that Mahmud destroyed the Somnath temple. He states Mahmud's motives as, "raids undertaken with a view to plunder and to satisfy the righteous [[iconoclasm]] of a true Muslim... [he] returned to [[Ghazna]] laden with costly spoils from the Hindu temples." Al-Biruni obliquely criticizes these raids for "ruining the prosperity" of India, creating antagonism among the Hindus for "all foreigners", and triggering an exodus of scholars of Hindu sciences far away from regions "conquered by us".<ref>{{cite book |last=Deming |first=D. |title=Science and Technology in World History, Volume 2: Early Christianity, the Rise of Islam and the Middle Ages |publisher=McFarland Publishers |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-7864-5642-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2FKNAgAAQBAJ |page=100}}</ref>{{sfn|Khan|1976|pp=105 with footnote 82}} Mahmud launched many plunder campaigns into India, including one that included the sack of Somnath temple.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stuurman |first=S. |title=The Invention of Humanity: Equality and Cultural Difference in World History |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-674-97751-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S6l7DgAAQBAJ&pg=PT157 |pages=156–157}}, Quote: "Between 1000 and 1025, the king [Mahmud] mounted no less than seventeen campaigns into India, one of which-the sack of the great Shiva temple of Somnath in Gujarat–yielded a booty of 6500 kilos of gold, not to mention the slaves, arms, richly ornamented robes, precious jewels, tapestries and war elephants brought to Ghazna by Mahmud's victorious army. Al-Biruni accompanied his master [Mahmud] on several of these campaigns."</ref>

[[File:19th century archive photos of Somanatha temple, Veraval Prabhas Patan, Gujarat.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Some of the earliest photos of Somnath temple were taken by Sykes and Nelson in the 19th century. They show Somnath Hindu temple partly converted into an Islamic mosque.<ref name=sykesBL/>]]
According to Jamal Malik – a South Asian history and Islamic Studies scholar, "the destruction of Somnath temple, a well known place of pilgrimage in Gujarat in 1026, played a major role in creating Mahmud as an "icon of Islam", the sack of this temple became "a crucial topic in Persian stories of Islamic iconoclasm".<ref name="Malikp88"/> Many Muslim historians and scholars in and after the 11th century included the destruction of Somnath as a righteous exemplary deed in their publications. It inspired the Persian side with a cultural memory of Somnath's destruction through "epics of conquest", while to the Hindu side, Somnath inspired tales of recovery, rebuilding and "epics of resistance".<ref name="Malikp88"/> These tales and chronicles in Persia elevated Mahmud as "the exemplary hero and Islamic warrior for the Muslims", states Malik, while in India Mahmud emerged as the exemplary "arch-enemy".<ref name="Malikp88">{{cite book |last=Malik |first=Jamal |title=Islam in South Asia: A Short History |publisher=Brill Academic |year=2008 |isbn=978-90-04-16859-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FduG_t2sxwMC |pages=88–90}}</ref>

Powerful legends with intricate detail developed in the Turko-Persian literature regarding Mahmud's raid,.{{sfn|Thapar|2005|loc=Chapter 3}} According to historian Cynthia Talbot, a later tradition states that "50,000<ref>{{Cite web |title=Page:HMElliotHistVol1.djvu/133 - Wikisource, the free online library |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:HMElliotHistVol1.djvu/133 |access-date=2024-06-19 |website=en.wikisource.org |page=98 |language=en |quote=They would go weeping and crying for help into the temple, and then issue forth to battle and fight till all were killed. The number of the slain exceeded 60,000}}</ref> devotees lost their lives in trying to stop Mahmud" during his sack of Somnath temple.{{sfn|Cynthia Talbot|2007|p=20, Quote: "At that time he sacked the Somanatha temple, built about fifty years earlier by the western Indian king of Gujarat (see Map 2.1). This coastal area was a prosperous and wealthy one, thanks to vigorous maritime trading activities. According to a later tradition, 50,000 devotees lost their lives in trying to stop Mahmud from not only taking the temple's considerable wealth, but also destroying the form of the Hindu god Shiva housed within it. Subsequent kings of the Gujarat region constructed a much grander and elaborate temple in place of the one that Mahmud had destroyed;"}} According to Thapar, the "50,000 killed" is a boastful claim that is "constantly reiterated" in Muslim texts, and becomes a "formulaic" figure of deaths to help highlight "Mahmud’s legitimacy in the eyes of established Islam".<ref>{{harvnb|Thapar|2005|p=51}}: "But Mahmud’s legitimacy in the eyes of established Islam also derived from the constant reiteration that he was a Sunni who attacked the heretics, the Ismai‘ilis and Shi‘as in India and Persia. The boast is always that their mosques were closed or destroyed and that invariably 50,000 of them were killed. The figure becomes formulaic, a part of the rhetoric for killing, irrespective of whether they were Hindu kafirs or Muslim heretics.</ref>

After being exhorted by [[Bhava Brihaspati]], a [[Pashupata Shaivism|Pashupata]] ascetic, [[Kumarapala (Chaulukya dynasty)|Kumarapala]] (r.&nbsp;1143–72) rebuilt the Somnath temple in "excellent stone and studded it with jewels," according to an inscription in 1169. He replaced a decaying wooden temple.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=G. Buhler |first=Vajeshaṅkar G. Ozhâ|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23854140 |title=The Somnâthpattan Praśasti of Bhâva Bṛihaspati |journal=Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes |page=2|date=1889 |volume=3 |publisher=Wiener Zeitschrift Für Die Kunde Des Morgenlandes 3|jstor=23854140 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Thapar|2005|p=79}}{{sfn|Yagnik|Sheth|2005|p=40}}

During its [[Alauddin Khalji's conquest of Gujarat|1299 invasion of Gujarat]], [[Alauddin Khalji]]'s army, led by [[Ulugh Khan]], defeated the Vaghela king [[Karna (Vaghela dynasty)|Karna]], and sacked the Somnath temple.{{sfn|Yagnik|Sheth|2005|p=47}}<ref name=eaton200080>Eaton (2000), [http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/txt_eaton_temples2.pdf Temple desecration in pre-modern India] Frontline, p. 73, item 16 of the Table, Archived by Columbia University</ref> Legends in the later texts ''[[Kanhadade Prabandha]]'' (15th century) and [[Nainsi ri Khyat|''Nainsi ri'' ''Khyat'']] (17th century) state that the [[Chahamanas of Jalore|Jalore]] ruler [[Kanhadadeva]] later recovered the Somnath idol and freed the Hindu prisoners, after an attack on the Delhi army near Jalore.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ashok Kumar Srivastava |title=The Chahamanas of Jalor |publisher=Sahitya Sansar Prakashan |year=1979 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.547206 |oclc=12737199 |pages=39–40 }}</ref> However, other sources state that the idol was taken to Delhi, where it was thrown to be trampled under the feet of Muslims.<ref>{{cite book |author=Kishori Saran Lal |author-link=K. S. Lal |title=History of the Khaljis (1290–1320) |year=1950 |publisher=The Indian Press |location=Allahabad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2XXqAQAACAAJ |oclc=685167335 |page=85 }}</ref> These sources include the contemporary and near-contemporary texts including [[Amir Khusrau]]'s ''Khazainul-Futuh'', [[Ziauddin Barani]]'s ''Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi'' and Jinaprabha Suri's ''[[Vividha Tirtha Kalpa|Vividha-tirtha-kalpa]]''. It is possible that the story of Kanhadadeva's rescue of the Somnath idol is a fabrication by the later writers. Alternatively, it is possible that the Khalji army was taking multiple idols to Delhi, and Kanhadadeva's army retrieved one of them.<ref>{{cite book |author=Dasharatha Sharma |title=Early Chauhān Dynasties |publisher=S. Chand / Motilal Banarsidass |year=1959 |isbn=9780842606189 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n4gcAAAAMAAJ |oclc=3624414 |page=162 }}</ref>

The temple was rebuilt by [[Mahipala I (Chudasama dynasty)|Mahipala I]], the [[Chudasama dynasty|Chudasama]]  king of Saurashtra in 1308 and the ''lingam'' was installed by his son [[Khengara]] sometime between 1331 and 1351.<ref name=prabhat>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TjAA3y1zmBgC&q=%22Raja+Bhim+Deo%22&pg=PA8 |title= Temples of India |year= 1968 |publisher= Prabhat Prakashan |access-date=1 November 2014}}</ref> As late as the 14th century, [[Gujarati Muslims|Gujarati Muslim]] pilgrims were noted by [[Amir Khusrow]] to stop at that temple to pay their respects before departing for the [[Hajj]] pilgrimage.<ref name="Flood">{{cite book |last1=Flood |first1=Finbarr Barry |title=Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval "Hindu-Muslim" Encounter |date=2009 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691125947 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLNE_li8C10C&q=Hajj&pg=PA155}}</ref>
In 1395, the temple was destroyed for the third time by [[Muzaffar Shah I|Zafar Khan]], the last governor of Gujarat under the [[Delhi Sultanate]] and later founder of [[Gujarat Sultanate]].{{sfn|Yagnik|Sheth|2005|p=49}} In 1451, it was desecrated by [[Mahmud Begada]], the Sultan of Gujarat.{{sfn|Yagnik|Sheth|2005|p=50}}

By 1665, the temple, one of many, was ordered to be destroyed by [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] emperor [[Aurangzeb]].<ref>Satish Chandra, ''Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals'', (Har-Anand, 2009), 278.</ref>{{sfn|Thapar|2004|pp=68–69}} However, the order appears not to have been carried out at that time. Aurangzeb ordered its destruction and conversion into a mosque again in 1706; this order does seem to have been carried out, though very little effort seems to have been put into the conversion.{{sfn|Thapar|2004|pp=68–69}}

===British Raj===
[[File:Red_Fort,_Ghazni_gate_(photographic_restoration).jpg|thumb|The Gates from the tomb of [[Mahmud of Ghazni]], stored in the Arsenal of Agra Fort.]]
In 1842, [[Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough]] issued his ''Proclamation of the Gates'', in which he ordered the British army in Afghanistan to return via Ghazni and bring back to India the sandalwood gates from the tomb of [[Mahmud of Ghazni]] in Ghazni, Afghanistan. These were believed to have been taken by Mahmud from Somnath. Under Ellenborough's instruction, General [[William Nott]] removed the gates in September 1842. A whole sepoy regiment, the [[6th Jat Light Infantry]], was detailed to carry the gates back to India<ref>{{cite web |title=Battle of Kabul 1842 |url=http://www.britishbattles.com/first-afghan-war/battle-of-kabul-1842/ |website=britishbattles.com |access-date=16 October 2017}}</ref> in triumph. However, on arrival, they were found not to be of Gujarati or Indian design, and not of [[Sandalwood]], but of [[Cedrus deodara|Deodar wood]] (native to Ghazni) and therefore not authentic to Somnath.<ref name="br">{{cite web |url=http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/other/019xzz000000562u00010000.html |title=Mosque and Tomb of the Emperor Sultan Mahmood of Ghuznee |publisher=British Library |access-date=1 November 2014 |archive-date=11 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111055409/http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/other/019xzz000000562u00010000.html |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Havell |first1=Ernest Binfield |title=A Handbook to Agra and the Taj |date=2003 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |isbn=8120617118 |pages=62–63 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2HPqvBu-aIC&q=somnath+gate+sandalwood+deodar+wood&pg=PA62 |access-date=16 October 2017}}</ref> They were placed in the [[arsenal]] store-room of the [[Agra Fort]] where they still lie to the present day.<ref name="Marshman1867">{{cite book |author=John Clark Marshman |title=The History of India, from the Earliest Period to the Close of Lord Dalhousie's Administration |url=https://archive.org/details/historyindiafro00marsgoog |year=1867 |publisher=Longmans, Green |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyindiafro00marsgoog/page/n251 230]–231}}</ref><ref name="Smith1878">{{cite book |author=George Smith |title=The Life of John Wilson, D.D. F.R.S.: For Fifty Years Philanthropist and Scholar in the East |url=https://archive.org/details/lifejohnwilsond00smitgoog |year=1878 |publisher=John Murray |pages=[https://archive.org/details/lifejohnwilsond00smitgoog/page/n332 304]–310}}</ref> There was a debate in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons in London]] in 1843 on the question of the gates of the temple and Ellenbourough's role in the affair.<ref>The United Kingdom House of Commons Debate, 9 March 1943, on The Somnath (Prabhas Patan) Proclamation, Junagadh 1948. 584–602, 620, 630–32, 656, 674.</ref><ref name="POG">{{cite web |title=The Gates of Somnath, by Thomas Babington Macaulay, a speech in the House of Commons, March 9, 1843 |website=Columbia University in the City of New York |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00generallinks/macaulay/txt_commons_somnauth_1843.html |access-date=5 August 2016}}</ref> After much crossfire between the British Government and the opposition, all of the facts as we know them were laid out.

In the 19th century novel ''[[The Moonstone]]'' by [[Wilkie Collins]], the diamond of the title is presumed to have been stolen from the temple at Somnath and, according to the historian [[Romila Thapar]], reflects the interest aroused in Britain by the gates. Her 2004 book on Somnath examines the evolution of the historiographies about the legendary Gujarat temple.<ref name=thapar>{{harvnb|Thapar|2004|page=170}}</ref>

===Reconstruction during 1950–1951===
[[File:K M Munshi at Somnath in July 1950.jpg|thumb|K. M. Munshi with archaeologists and engineers of the Government of India, Bombay, and Saurashtra, with the ruins of Somnath Temple in the background, July 1950.|left]]
Before [[Partition of India|independence]], [[Veraval]] was part of the [[Junagadh State]], whose ruler had acceded to Pakistan in 1947. India [[Indian integration of Junagadh|contested the accession]] and annexed the state after holding a referendum. India's Deputy Prime Minister [[Vallabhbhai Patel]] came to Junagadh on 12 November 1947 to direct the stabilization of the state by the Indian Army, at which time he ordered the reconstruction of the Somnath temple.<ref>Hindustan Times, 15 Nov, 1947</ref>

When Patel, [[K. M. Munshi]] and other leaders of the Congress went to [[Mahatma Gandhi]] with their proposal to reconstruct the Somnath temple, Gandhi blessed the move but suggested that the funds for the construction should be collected from the public, and the temple should not be funded by the state.<ref name=marie>Marie Cruz Gabriel, Rediscovery of India, A silence in the city and other stories, Published by Orient Blackswan, 1996, {{ISBN|81-250-0828-4}}, {{ISBN|978-81-250-0828-6}}</ref> Accordingly, The Somnath Trust was established to collect funds and oversee the construction of the temple. Munshi headed the Trust. Being the Civil Supplies minister in the Government of India, Munshi was keen to involve the Government of India in the reconstruction effort, but he was overruled by Nehru.{{sfn|Thapar|2004|pp=197–198}} According to [[Prem Nath Bazaz|Pandit Prem Nath Bazaz]], there had been an agreement between the U.P. Government and the Indian Sugar Syndicate, wherein six annas (that is 40 [[Paisa|paise]]) had to be collected out of the price of every mound of sugar by the Syndicate for the renovation of the Somnath temple.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bazaz |first=Prem Nath |title=The History of Struggle for Freedom in Kashmir: Cultural and Political, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day |publisher=PamposhPublications |pages=360}}</ref>

The ruins were pulled down in October 1950. The mosque present at that site was shifted few kilometres away by using construction vehicles.<ref>Mir Jaffar Barkriwala, The Glorious Destruction of Hindoo Temples in Kathiawar and their replacement, Ul Akbari Publications, Bharuch, 1902</ref> The new structure was built by the traditional [[Sompura Salat|Sompura]] builders of temples in Gujarat.{{sfn|Thapar|2004|pp=197–198}} On 11 May 1951, [[Rajendra Prasad]], the President of India performed the installation ceremony for the temple at the invitation of Munshi.<ref name=Veer85/>{{sfn|Thapar|2004|p=199}}

=== 21st century ===
As of 2024, the pilgrim corridor is under planning. As a part of land requirement, the encroachments were removed and land was reclaimed in 2024. Further land acquisitions were also planned.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gujarati |first=TV9 |date=2024-09-30 |title=Somnath Demolition: સોમનાથ કોરિડોરની પરિકલ્પના પૂર્ણ થશે ત્યારે લોકો આ IPS અધિકારીને કરશે યાદ |url=https://tv9gujarati.com/gujarat/girsomnath/people-will-remember-this-ips-officer-when-the-concept-of-somnath-corridor-is-completed-1099428.html |access-date=2024-12-30 |website=TV9 Gujarati |language=gu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=સોમનાથ મંદિર પાછળ મેગા ડિમોલિશનઃ યાત્રાધામ કોરીડોર વિકાસની પૂર્વતૈયારી |url=https://www.gujaratsamachar.com/news/gujarat/mega-demolition-behind-somnath-temple-preparation-for-pilgrimage-corridor-development |access-date=2024-12-30 |website=www.gujaratsamachar.com |language=gu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-10-05 |title=ભાસ્કર ગ્રાઉન્ડ રિપોર્ટ: કોરિડોરને લઇ 500થી વધુ મિલકતો દૂર કરાશે; જમીનોના ભાવ ડબલ થઇ ગયા |url=https://www.divyabhaskar.co.in/local/gujarat/gir-somnath/news/more-than-500-properties-will-be-removed-along-the-corridor-land-prices-doubled-131941933.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20231013122358/https://www.divyabhaskar.co.in/local/gujarat/gir-somnath/news/more-than-500-properties-will-be-removed-along-the-corridor-land-prices-doubled-131941933.html |archive-date=2023-10-13 |access-date=2024-12-30 |work=Divya Bhaskar |language=gu}}</ref>

== Temple Architecture ==
=== Pre-11th century temple ===
The floor plan and ruins of a pre-1000 CE temple were unearthed during the archaeological excavations led by B.K. Thapar. Most of the temple is lost, but the remains of the foundation, the lower structure as well as pieces of the temple ruins suggest an "exquisitely carved, rich" temple. According to Dhaky – a scholar of Indian temple architecture, this is the earliest known version of the Somnath temple. It was, what historic Sanskrit ''vastu sastra'' texts call the ''tri-anga sandhara prasada''. Its ''[[garbhagriha]]'' (sanctum) was connected to a ''mukhamandapa'' (entrance hall) and ''gudhamandapa''.{{sfn|Dhaky|1998|pp=285–287, with Plates 648–661 in Part 3(2) for photographs}}

The temple opened to the east. The stylobate of this destroyed temple had two parts: the 3 feet high pitha-socle and the vedibandha-podium. The pitha had a tall ''bhitta'', joined to the jadyakumbha, ornamented with what Dhaky calls "crisp and charming foliage pattern". The kumbha of the Vedibandha had a Surasenaka with a niche that contained the figure of [[Lakulisa]] – this evidence affirms that the lost temple was a Shiva temple.{{sfn|Dhaky|1998|pp=285–287, with Plates 648–661 in Part 3(2) for photographs}}

The excavations yielded pieces of one at the western end, which suggests that the kumbhas were aligned to the entire wall. Above the kalaga moulding was an ''antarapatta'', states Dhaky, but no information is available to determine its design or ornamentation. The surviving fragment of the kapotapali that was discovered suggests that at "intervals, it was decorated with contra-posed half thakaras, with large, elegant, and carefully shaped gagarakas in suspension graced the lower edge of the kapotapali", states Dhaky.{{sfn|Dhaky|1998|pp=285–287, with Plates 648–661 in Part 3(2) for photographs}} The garbhagriha had a vedibandha, possibly with a two-layered jangha with images on the main face showing the influence of the late Maha-Maru style. Another fragment found had a "beautifully moulded rounded pillarette and a ribbed khuraccadya-awning topped the khattaka".{{sfn|Dhaky|1998|pp=285–287, with Plates 648–661 in Part 3(2) for photographs}}

The mukhachatuski, states Dhaky, likely broke and fell immediately after the destructive hit by Mahmud's troops. These fragments suffered no further erosion or damage one would normally expect, likely because it was left in the foundation pit of the new Somnath temple that was rebuilt quickly after Mahmud left. The "quality of craftsmanship" in these fragments is "indeed high", the carvings of the lost temple were "rich and exquisite", states Dhaky. Further, a few pieces have an inscription fragment in the 10th-century characters – which suggests that this part of the temple or the entire temple was built in the 10th century.{{sfn|Dhaky|1998|pp=285–287, with Plates 648–661 in Part 3(2) for photographs}}

;19th-century ruined Somnath temple partly converted into mosque
The efforts of colonial era archaeologists, photographers and surveyors have yielded several reports on the architecture and arts seen at the Somnath temple ruins in the 19th century.{{sfn|Cousens|1931|pp=11–28}} The earliest survey reports of Somnath temple and the condition of the Somanatha-Patan-Veraval town in the 19th century were published between 1830 and 1850 by British officers and scholars. [[Alexander Burnes]] surveyed the site in 1830, calling Somnath site as "far-famed temple and city". He wrote:<ref name="Burnes"/>

[[File:Ancient Somnath temple, Veraval Gujarat.jpg|thumb|Floor plan of the main Somnath temple, Veraval Gujarat]]
{{Blockquote|The great temple of Somnath stands on a rising ground on the north-west side of Pattan, inside the walls, and is only separated by them from the sea. It may be scen from a distance of twenty-five miles. It is a massy stone building, evidently of some antiquity. Unlike Hindu temples gencrally, it consists of three domes, the first of which forms the roof of the entrance, the second is the interior of the temple, the third was the sanctum sanctorum, wherein were deposited the riches of Hindi devotion. The two external domes are diminutive: the central one has an elevation of more than thirty feet, tapering to the summit in fourteen steps, and is about forty feet in diameter. It is perfect, but the images which have once adorned both the interior and exterior of the building are mutilated, and the black polished stones which formed its floor have been removed by the citizens for less pious purposes. Two marble slabs, with sentences from the Koran, and inscriptions regarding Mangrol Isa, point out where that Mohammedan worthy rests. They arc on the western side of the city, and the place is still frequented by the devout Moslem. Near it is a cupola, supported on pillars, to mark the grave of the sultan's cashkeeper, with many others; and the whole city is encircled by the remains of mosques, and one vast cemetery, ‘The field of battle, where the “infidels” were conquered, is also pointed out, and the massy walls, excavated ditch, paved streets, and squared-stone buildings of Pattan itself, proclaim its former greatness. At present the city is a perfect ruin, its houses are nearly unoccupied and but for a new and substantial temple, erected to house the god of Somnath by that wonderful woman, Ahalya Bai, the wife of Holkar.|Alexander Burnes<ref name="Burnes">{{cite journal |last=Burnes |first=Alexander |title=Account of the Remains of the Celebrated Temple at Pattan Somnath, Sacked by Mahmúd of Ghizni, AD 1024 |journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |publisher= Cambridge University Press |volume=5 |issue=1 |year=1839 |jstor=25181974 |pages=104–107 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00015173 |s2cid=163352567 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1746351 }}; {{PD-notice}}</ref>}}

He states that the site shows how the temple had been changed into a Muslim structure with arch, these sections had been reconstructed with "mutilated pieces of the temple's exterior" and "inverted Hindu images". Such modifications in the dilapidated Somnath temple to make it into a "Mohammedan sanctuary", states Burnes, is "proof of Mohammedan devastation" of this site.<ref name="Burnes"/> Burnes also summarized some of the mythologies he heard, the bitter communal sentiments and accusations, as well as the statements by garrisoned "Arabs of the Junagar [Junagadh] chief" about their victories in this "infidel land".<ref name="Burnes"/>

The survey report of Captain Postans was published in 1846. He states:<ref name=postans/>
{{Blockquote|Pattan, and all the part of the country wherein it is situated, is now under a Mohamedan ruler, the Nawab of Junagadh, and the city itself offers the most curious specimen of any I have ever seen of its original Hindu character, preserved throughout its walls, gates, and buildings, despite Mohammedan innovations and a studied attempt to obliterate the traces of paganism ; even the very musjids, which are here and there encountered in the town, have been raised by materials
from the sacred edifices of the conquered, or, as it is said by the historians of Sindh, “the true believers turned the temples of the idol worshippers into places of prayer.” Old Pattan is to this day a Hindu city in all but its inhabitants—perhaps one of the most interesting historical spots in Western India. [...] Somnath assumed the appearance it now presents, of a temple evidently of pagan original altered by the introduction of a Mohammedan style of architecture in various portions, but leaving its general plan and minor features unmolested. [...] The temple consists of one large hall in an oblong form, from one end of which proceeds a small square chamber, or sanctum. The centre of the hall is occupied by a noble dome over an octagon of eight arches; the remainder of the roof terraced and supported by numerous pillars. There are three éntrances. The sides of the building face to the cardinal points, and the principal entrance appears to be on the eastern side. These doorways ave unusually high and wide, in the Pyramidal or Egyptian form, decreasing towards the top; they add much to the effect of the building. Internally, the whole presents a scene of complete destruction; the pavement is everywhere covered with heaps of stones and rubbish; the facings of the walls, capitals of the pillars, in short, every portion possessing anything approaching to ornament, having been defaced or removed, (if not by Mahmud, by those who subsequently converted this temple into its present semi-Mohammedan appearance). [...] Externally the whole of the buildings are most elaborately carved and ornamented with figures, single and in groups of various dimensions, Many of them appear to have been of some size; but so laboriously was the work of mutilation carried on here, that of the larger figures scarcely a trunk has been left, whilst few even of the most minute remain uninjured. The western side is the most perfect: here the pillars and ornaments are in excellent preservation. The front entrance is ornamented with a portico, and surmounted by two slender minarets ornaments so much in the Mohammedan style, that they, as well as the domes, have evidently been added to the original building.|Thomas Postans<ref name=postans>{{cite journal |first1=Captain |last1=Postans |title=A Few Observations on the Temple of Somnath |jstor= 25207608 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |year= 1846 |pages=172–175 |volume=8 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00142789 |s2cid=163925101 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/2015984}}; {{PD-notice}}</ref>}}

A more detailed survey report of Somnath temple ruins was published in 1931 by Henry Cousens.{{sfn|Cousens|1931|pp=11–28}} Cousens states that the Somnath temple is dear to the Hindu consciousness, its history and lost splendor remembered by them, and no other temple in Western India is "so famous in the annals of Hinduism as the temple of Somanatha at Somanatha-Pattan". The Hindu pilgrims walk to the ruins here and visit it along with their pilgrimage to Dwarka, Gujarat, though it has been reduced to a 19th-century site of gloom, full of "ruins and graves".{{sfn|Cousens|1931|pp=11–13}} His survey report states:{{sfn|Cousens|1931|pp=11–28}}

{{Blockquote|The old temple of Somanatha is situated in the town, and stands upon the shore towards its eastern end, being separated from the sea by a heavily built retaining wall which prevents the former from washing away the ground around the foundations of the shrine. Little now remains of the walls of the temple; they have been, in great measure, rebuilt and patched with rubble to convert the building into a mosque. The great dome, indeed the whole roof and the stumpy minars, one of which remains above the front entrance, are portions of the Muhammadan additions. [...] One fact alone shows that the temple was built on a large scale, and that is the presence in its basement of the ''asvathara'' or horse-moulding. It was probably about the same size, in plan, as the Rudra Mala at Siddhapur, being, in length, about 140 feet over all. [...] The walls, or, at least, the outer casing of them, having in great part fallen, there is revealed, in several places, the finished masonry and mouldings of the basement of an older temple, which appears not to have been altogether removed when the temple, we now see, was built, portions of this older temple being apparently left in situ to form the heart and core of the later masonry. [...] For several reasons, I have come to the conclusion that the ruined temple, as it now stands, save for the Muhammadan additions, is a remnant of the temple built by Kumarapala, king of Gujarat, about AD 1169.|Henry Cousens{{sfn|Cousens|1931|pp=13–14}}}}

;Present temple
The present temple is a [[Māru-Gurjara architecture]] (also called Chaulukya or Solanki style) temple. It has a "Kailash Mahameru Prasad" form, and reflects the skill of the [[Sompura Salat]]s, one of Gujarat's master masons.<ref name="somnath.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.somnath.org/jay-somnath.aspx |title=Shree Somnath Trust :: Jay Somnath |publisher=Somnath.org |access-date=1 November 2014 |archive-date=30 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111030093334/http://www.somnath.org/jay-somnath.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The architect of the new Somnath temple was Prabhashankarbhai Oghadbhai Sompura, who worked on recovering and integrating the old recoverable parts with the new design in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The new Somnath temple is intricately carved, two level temple with pillared [[mandapa]] and 212 relief panels.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Scriver |first1=P. |last2=Srivastava |first2=A. |title=India: Modern Architectures in History |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-78023-468-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AdAZDgAAQBAJ |pages=314–315}}</ref>

[[File:Somanath Temple.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|A wide-angle view – a bit distorted – from the southeast side of the present Somnath temple. Nataraja can be seen on the ''sukhanasi'', along with the two-storey design.]]
The temple's [[shikhara|śikhara]], or main spire, is {{Convert|15|m|ft}} in height above the sanctum, and it has an 8.2-metre-tall flag pole at the top.<ref name="somnath.org"/> According to Ananda Coomaraswamy – an art and architecture historian, the earlier Somnath temple ruin followed the Solanki-style, which is Nagara architecture inspired by the [[Vesara]] ideas found in Western regions of India.<ref>A Coomaraswamy (1927), History of Indian and Indonesian Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Edward Goldston, p. 111</ref>

===Artwork===
The rebuilt temple as found in the ruined form in the 19th century and the current temple used recovered parts of previous temple with significant artwork. The new temple has added and integrated the new panels with a few old ones, the color of the stone distinguishing the two. The panels and pillars with historic artwork were and are found in the south and southwest side of the Somnath temple.{{sfn|Cousens|1931|p=16}}

In general, the reliefs and sculpture is mutilated, to the point that it is difficult for most to "identify the few images that remain" on panels, states Cousens.{{sfn|Cousens|1931|p=16}} An original [[Nataraja]] (Tandava Shiva), albeit with chopped arms and defaced, can be seen on the south side. A mutilated [[Nandi (mythology)|Nandi]] is to the right. To the left of this are traces of Shiva-[[Parvati]], with the goddess seated in his lap.{{sfn|Cousens|1931|p=16}} Towards the north-east corner, portions of panels in a band similar to ''[[Ramayana]]'' scenes in historic Hindu temples can be traced.  Sections can be seen with "beautiful vertical mouldings, on either side of the main front doorway", states Cousens, and this suggests that the destroyed temple was "exceedingly richly carved". The temple likely had a galaxy of Vedic and Puranic deities, as one of the partially surviving relief shows [[Surya]]'s iconography – two lotuses in his hand.{{sfn|Cousens|1931|p=16}}

The older temple featured an open plan, with great windows that allow light into the mandapa and circumambulation passage. The intricate and detailed artwork inside and on the pillars of Somnath temple were quite similar to those found in the [[Luna Vasahi temple]] at [[Mount Abu]].{{sfn|Cousens|1931|p=17}}

== Tirtha and festivals ==
The Somnath-Prabhasa ''tirtha'' has been one of the revered ''tirtha'' (pilgrimage) site for the Hindus. It is the famed Prabhasa site found in Brahmi script inscriptions in Maharashtra sites.<ref name=senartEI7>E. Senart (1903), The Inscriptions in the Cave at Karle, Epigraphia Indica, Vol 7, 1902–03, pp. 57–58 (for more on Nahapana, pp. 58–61)</ref> It is mentioned in the poems of Kalidasa.<ref name=DLEck/> The new temple is the top pilgrimage site in Gujarat along with Dwarka.<ref name=sopher/>

==Archaeological studies==
The Somnath temple site and coastline has been excavated for archaeological evidence by Indian teams. The first major excavation was completed in 1950–51 just before the Somnath temple was reconstructed. It was led by [[B. K. Thapar]], one of the Director General of [[Archaeological Survey of India]], and a report published. This Thapar study yielded direct and substantial evidence of a 10th-century or earlier large temple.{{sfn|Dhaky|1998|pp=285–287, with Plates 648–661 in Part 3(2) for photographs}} B. K. Thapar estimated the older temple to be from the 9th century, while Dhaky states to more likely from the 10th century, i.e. from 960 to 973 CE.{{sfn|Dhaky|Shastri|1974}}{{sfn|Rosa Maria Cimino|1977}} The Thapar study also found artifacts and ruins with ancient scripts such as [[Brahmi script|Brahmi]] and later scripts such as [[Nāgarī script|proto-Nagari and Nagari]], thus confirming the antiquity of Somnath-Patan through at least much of the 1st-millennium.<ref>B.R. Thapar (1951), Excavation work in the precincts of the Somnath Temple – Deputation of Shri B.K. Thapar for the work (1950), National Archives of India, Abhilekh – Government of India, pp. 1–102</ref>{{sfn|Dhaky|Shastri|1974}}

A few Somnath-Patan sites around the Somnath temple was excavated in the 1970s, led by [[Madhukar Keshav Dhavalikar|M. K. Dhavalikar]] and Z. D. Ansari. They dug deeper at several locations, reported evidence of five periods of human settlement. In 1992, M. K. Dhavalikar and [[Gregory Possehl]] – an archaeologist known for his [[Indus Valley Civilisation|Indus Valley]] studies, reported their analysis of archaeological discoveries from Prabhas-Patan. According to them, the Somnath site shows evidence of ancient human settlement, from pre-2nd millennium BCE period. They date one period to "pre-Harappan phase". However, these discoveries are all ceramics, wares and jewelry (amulet), and they found no ancient "temple parts".<ref>M.K. Dhavalikar and Gregory L. Possehl (1992), The pre‐Harappan period at Prabhas Patan and the Pre‐Harappan Phase in Gujarat, Man and Environment, Volume XVII, Issue 1, pp. 70‐ 78</ref> According to Charles Herman's critical review, the evidence available so far does not allow any direct inferences about the society and culture in pre-1st millennium BCE era, but there is persuasive evidence that Prabhas-Patan was an early Harappan site with sedentary farming and cattle keeping and it is in the same league of significance as the [[Dholavira]] (Kutch) and [[Rojdi]] (Sorath-Harappan) archaeological sites. Further, the Prabhas-Patan mounds that have been excavated show evidence of continued post-Harappan settlement (c. 2000– 1800 BCE) along with several other Saurashtra sites. According to Herman, the archaeological excavations in Prabhas-Patan and Saurashtra region have been too few to make systematic conclusions.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Herman |first=Charles Frank |title="Harappan" Gujarat : The Archaeology-Chronology Connection |journal=Paléorient |volume=22 |issue=2 |year=1996 |jstor=41492666 |pages= 89–90, 99–100, context: 77–112 |doi=10.3406/paleo.1996.4637 }}</ref>

==Legacy==
===Iran===
The Somnath temple has inspired different narratives and legacies, for some a symbol of blessed conquest and victories, for some a symbol of fanatical intolerance and persecution. After the 1026 sack of the Somnath temple, states Mehrdad Shokoohy, the "sack of Somnath was not just yet another campaign of a medieval Sultan confined to histories, but a symbol of the revival of Iranian identity boosted by religious zeal, which was to echo in literature and folklore" for nearly one thousand years. The destruction of the Somnath temple – called ''Sūmanāt'' in Persian literature, and the killing of Hindus has been portrayed as a celebrated event in numerous versions of history, stories and poems found in Persia written over the centuries. The Persian literature has made mythical ahistorical connections of Somnath to [[Manat (goddess)|Manat]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Homerin |first=Th. Emil |date=1983 |title=Sa'di's Somnatiyah |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4310402 |journal=Iranian Studies |volume=16 |issue=1/2 |pages=31–50 |doi=10.1080/00210868308701604 |jstor=4310402 |issn=0021-0862|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The destruction of both has been celebrated by the Islamic scholars and elites.{{sfn|Shokoohy|2012|pp=298–299}}<ref>Aliakbar Dehkhoda (1994), Loghatnâme (Encyclopedic Dictionary), Editors: Mohammad Mo'in And Ja'far Shahidi, Entry: Sumanat (Persian Language), {{OCLC|15716628}}</ref>

===India===
On the Indian side, the Somnath temple has been more than another house of worship. For Hindus, it is a question of their heritage, their sense of sacred time and space, states Peter van der Veer.<ref name=Veer85/> Its history raises questions of tolerance and spiritual values to expect, and of a symbol of fanaticism and foreign oppression. The Somnath temple has been leveraged to revisit India's history and agitate over its sacred spaces including contested sites such as Ayodhya.<ref name=Veer85/> Mahmud and Aurangzeb along with the ideology that inspired them are remembered as enemies of the ancient Hindu nation. They are asserted as two historical facts, the former as the first and the latter as the last systematic destroyers of Somnath temple.<ref name=Veer85>{{cite journal |first1=Peter |last1=Van der Veer |title=Ayodhya and Somnath: Eternal Shrines, Contested Histores |jstor= 40970685 |journal= Social Research |year= 1992 |pages=85–87, 95–96 with footnotes |volume=59 |issue=1}}</ref>

The Somnath temple was used as a cultural symbol and the starting point for a Rath yatra (chariot journey), states K.N. Pannikkar, by Lal Krishna Advani to begin his Ayodhya campaign in 1990.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Panikkar |first=K. N. |title=Religious Symbols and Political Mobilization: The Agitation for a Mandir at Ayodhya |journal=Social Scientist |volume=21 |issue=7/8 |year=1993 |jstor=3520346 |pages=63–78 |doi=10.2307/3520346 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author= Ellen Christensen |editor1=C.E. Toffolo |editor2=M.C. Young |title=Emancipating Cultural Pluralism |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7914-5598-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V5PxDvSUIEMC |pages=164, 172–173}}</ref> According to Donald Smith, the reconstruction efforts in the 1950s was not about restoring an ancient architecture, rather the Somnath temple was of religious significance. The rebuilding was a symbol, it was Hindu repudiation of almost a thousand years of Muslim domination, oppression, and reassertion of a safe haven for Hindus in post-partitioned India.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Donald E. |title=India as a Secular State |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-4008-7778-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8zXWCgAAQBAJ |page=386}}</ref>

The reconstructed Somnath temple has been the preferred pilgrimage site for Hindus in Gujarat, often combined with a pilgrimage to Dwarka. The site attracts Hindus from all over India, states David Sopher.<ref name=sopher>{{cite journal |last=Sopher |first=David E. |title=Pilgrim Circulation in Gujarat |journal=Geographical Review |publisher= American Geographical Society, Wiley |volume=58 |issue=3 |year=1968 |jstor=212564 |pages=407–412 |doi=10.2307/212564 }}</ref><ref name="bhalka-somnath"/><ref name="gujtour"/>

===Pakistan and West Asia===
In the modern era textbooks of Pakistan, the sack of Somnath temple is praised and the campaign of Sultan Mahmud of Ghaznavi is glorified as a "champion of Islam". According to Syed Zaidi – a scholar of Islamist Militancy, a school book in Pakistan titled ''Our World'' portrays Somnath temple as a "place where all the Hindu rajas used to get together" and think about "fighting the Muslims". Mahmud went to this temple and "blew the idol in pieces" and "this success was a source of happiness for the whole Muslim world".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Zaidi |first=Syed Manzar Abbas |title=Polarisation of social studies textbooks in Pakistan |journal=The Curriculum Journal |publisher=Wiley |volume=22 |issue=1 |year=2011 |doi=10.1080/09585176.2011.550770 |pages=50–51 |s2cid=143484786 }}</ref> Another textbook for Pakistan's Middle School repeats a similar narrative, teaching its students that the Somnath temple was not really a Hindu temple but a political center. According to Ashok Behuria and Mohammad Shehzad, the Somnath legacy is narrated in this textbook as, "according to most historians Mahmud invaded India seventeen times to crush the power of the Hindu Rajas and Maharajas who were always busy planning conspiracies against him ... After the fall of Punjab, the Hindus assembled at Somnath — which was more of a political centre than a temple — to plan a big war against Mahmud. He took all the Rajas and Maharajas by surprise when he attacked Somnath and crushed the Hindu headquarter of political intrigue. With the destruction of Somnath he broke the backbone of the Hindus in the region and thus had no need to attack India again".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Behuria |first1=Ashok K. |last2=Shehzad |first2=Mohammad |title=Partition of History in Textbooks in Pakistan: Implications of Selective Memory and Forgetting |journal=Strategic Analysis |volume=37 |issue=3 |year=2013 |doi=10.1080/09700161.2013.782664 |pages=364 footnote 29, context: 353–365 |s2cid=143730050 }}</ref>

In Islamic State nationalist literature of the modern era, Sultan Mahmud campaign in the 11th century has been glorified as a historic "jihad against non-Muslims", his motive in destroying Somnath temple is described as "not driven by worldly gain [wealth]", but because he wanted to "end the worship of idols".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Aggarwal |first=Neil |title=Representations of Mahmud of Ghazni in the Islamic State's texts |journal=Contemporary South Asia |volume=26 |issue=1 |year=2018 |doi=10.1080/09584935.2018.1430747 |pages=90, with image on p. 89 (context: 86–96) |s2cid=149964716 }}</ref>

===Afghanistan===
In 1842, during the [[First Anglo-Afghan war]], the Governor-General of India [[Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough|Lord Ellenborough]] ordered his troops to bring the wooden gates from the tomb of [[Mahmud of Ghazni]] in [[Ghazni]], Afghanistan back to India; it was believed Mahmud had taken them from Somnath Temple. However, there was nor there is any evidence that Somnath temple or its site ever had any wooden gates. Nor is there any evidence that Mahmud or later conquerors ever took any gates from Prabhas-Patan region as a part of the plunder. This order has been called [[the Proclamation of the Gates]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Dancing Girl |author=Balaji Sadasivan | publisher=ISEAS Publishing, Singapore |year=2011 |isbn=9789814311687 |pages=118–125}}</ref> The order, states Thapar, is best seen as an example of how "colonial intervention in India" was viewed in the 1840s.{{sfn|Thapar|2004|pp=Chapter 7}}

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="134">
File:Somnath temple in Gujarat converted into a mosque, sketched by Captain Postans and lithograph by Thomas Dibdin, published in 1850.jpg|Somnath converted into mosque, partly correct, partly embellished sketch (1850 CE)
Image:Somnath temple-View2.jpg|Somnath Temple in 1957
Image:Somnath Temple.jpg|Somnath Temple in 2012
File:Somnath temple Prabhas Veraval Gujarat, artwork 1 with captions.jpg|Brahma-Shiva-Vishnu above ''mukhamandapa''
Image:Somnathtempledawn.JPG|Somnath Temple at dawn

</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Bhalka]]
* [[Conversion of non-Islamic places of worship into mosques]]
* [[Kashi Vishwanath Temple]]
* [[Dwarka]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

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* {{cite book |last=Vivekananda |first=Swami |title=The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda |chapter=The Paris Congress of the History of Religions |chapter-url=http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_4/translation_prose/the_paris_congress.htm |volume=4}}
* {{cite book |last=Thapar |first=Romila |author-link=Romila Thapar |title=Somanatha: The Many Voices of a History |publisher=Penguin Books India |year=2004 |url=https://archive.org/details/somanathathemany0000unse |via=archive.org |url-access=registration}}
** {{cite book |last=Thapar |first=Romila |author-link=Romila Thapar |title=Somanatha: The Many Voices of a History |publisher=Verso |year=2005 |isbn=1-84467-020-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/somanathamanyvoi0000thap |via=archive.org |url-access=registration}}
* {{citation |last1=Yagnik |first1=Achyut |last2=Sheth |first2=Suchitra |title=The Shaping of Modern Gujarat: Plurality, Hindutva, and Beyond |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wmKIiAPgnF0C&pg=PA39 |year=2005 |publisher=Penguin Books India |isbn=978-0-14-400038-8 |page=39}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Dhaky |editor1-first=M. A. |editor2-last=Shastri |editor2-first=H. P. |title=The Riddle of the Temple at Somanatha |publisher=Bharata Manisha |year=1974 }}
* {{Citation |first=Henry |last=Cousens |year=1931 |title=Somnatha and Other Mediaeval Temples in Kathiawad |place=India |publisher=Archaeological Survey of India, Vol XLV, Imperial Press}}
* {{Citation |last=Henry |first=Cousens |year=1931 |title=Somnatha and Other Mediaeval Temples in Kathiawad |place=India |publisher=Archaeological Survey of India, Vol XLV, Imperial Press}}
* {{cite book |last1=Shastri |first1=J.L. |last2=Tagare |first2=G.V. |title=The Bhagavata Purana Part 5: Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology Volume 11 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=2004 |isbn=978-81-208-3878-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rnHsDwAAQBAJ }}
* {{cite book |last=Wink |first=Andre |author-link=Andre Wink |title=Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7Th-11th Centuries |publisher=Brill |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-391-04173-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2m7_R5P2oAC }}
* {{cite book |last=Wink |first=André |author-link=Andre Wink |title=Al-Hind the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest: 11th-13th Centuries |publisher=E.J. Brill |year=1991 |isbn=978-90-04-10236-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=75FlxDhZWpwC }}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=h6pwstfwOjsC&q=Somnath:+the+shrine+eternal Somnath: The Shrine Eternal - by K M.Munshi]
*Kavita Singh (2010), "The Temple's Eternal Return: Swaminarayan Akshardham Complex in Delhi", pp.&nbsp;73–75,''Artibus Asiae'', Vol 70, no. 1, [https://www.academia.edu/381962/The_Temples_Eternal_Return_Swaminarayan_Akshardham_Complex_in_Delhi academia.edu]

==External links==
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* [http://somnath.org Somnath Temple Official Website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507185302/https://somnath.org/ |date=7 May 2020 }}

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{{Shiva temples}}
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{{Hindu temples in Gujarat}}

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[[Category:Jyotirlingas]]
[[Category:Hindu temples in Gujarat]]
[[Category:Gir Somnath district]]
[[Category:Shiva temples in Gujarat]]
[[Category:Māru-Gurjara architecture]]
[[Category:Hindu temples sacked in the Muslim period in the Indian subcontinent]]
[[Category:Mosques converted from Hindu temples]]
[[Category:Former Hindu temples in India]]