Several times Somnath has been destroyed by Muslim invaders and rulers, but each time it has risen from the ashes like a phoenix.
In many ways the history of Somnath mirrors the history of India. The temple has been subject to a number of attacks and destroyed. But after each attack the residents of Prabhasa and local rulers and leaders have got together and rebuilt the temple. The present temple is the seventh one in recorded history.
Early History
There are records of the first temple of Somnath having existed before the beginning of the Christian era. This was the only temple not to have been destroyed. Around 649 CE another temple was built here to replace the older one. This second temple was built by the Maitraka kings of Vallabhi in Gujarat.
Muslim Invasions
The first of the Muslim invasions was by Junayad, the Arab governor of Sind, whose armies destroyed the temple of Somnath in 725 CE. Almost a century later the third temple was constructed in red sandstone by the Pratihara king, Nagabhata II.
Soon the temple regained its old glory and wealth, the descriptions of which were carried to the Middle East. In particular, the accounts of the Arab Al Biruni impressed Mahmud of Ghazni. In 1025 CE, Ghazni destroyed and looted the temple, killing over 50,000 people who valiantly tried to defend it. The defenders included the 90-year-old clan leader Ghogha Rana. Ghazni personally broke the gilded lingam to pieces. He took them back to his homeland and placed them in the steps leading to the newly built Jamiah Masjid, so that they would be stepped upon by those going to the mosque to pray. This was his way of demonstrating superority.
Work on the fourth temple was started immediately by the Paramara King Bhoj of Malwa and the Solanki king Bhima of Patan and the temple was ready by 1042 CE. This temple was destroyed in 1300 CE. At that time Allaudin Khilji occupied the throne of Delhi and he sent his general, Alaf Khan, to pillage Somnath. The fifth temple was built by King Mahipala of the Chudasama dynasty.
Somnath was repeatedly attacked in the succeeding centuries. It was as if every 100 years or so someone said that it is time to raid Somnath again and loot the wealth accumulated over the past century. The last of these attacks was by the Mughal emperor Aurangazeb in 1701 CE. A mosque was built at the site of the temple.
In 1783 CE queen Ahilyabhai Holkar built the sixth temple at an adjacent site. The temple still stands and worship is carried out there.
The Seventh Temple
After independence, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel pledged on November 13, 1947, that the seventh temple would be reconstructed. According to prescribed Hindu rituals, pledges are made by taking holy water in one’s fist. Sardar Patel took the water from the ocean that has been witness to the recurring destructions. Leaders like Morarji Desai, Dr. Rajendra Prasad (the first President) and Kanhaiyalal Munshi joined in and the work was entrusted to the Sompura Shilpakars, whose ancestors rebuilt each new temple through the ages. The mosque built by Aurangazeb was not destroyed but carefully relocated. In 1951 Dr. Rajendra Prasad performed the consecration ceremony with the words “The Somnath Temple signifies that the power of creation is always greater than the power of destruction.”
The temple construction was completed on December 1, 1995, long after the demise of Sardar Patel. The then President of India, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, dedicated it to the nation.
Please check my course on Hindu Mythology
Please check my articles on Mythology from India
