Somnath: The Shrine Eternal

India has been a land of resilience. Beaten, battered, plundered, and balkanised. But still, India rose back to its feet. The tremendous ability to rise after every fall is a story of inspiration. A dive through the annals of Indian history tugs the heartstrings and leaves any Indian with a pang of sadness. Amid the gloom and despondency, the rise of the Somnath from the ruins as the towering symbol of Hindu resurgence fills the heart with hope and a sense of pride and cements our trust in the civilisational values of astounding perseverance.

The major milestones- Bhoomi Pujan of Ayodhya Ram mandir, and renovation of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple have whipped up a new enthusiasm that dotingly harps on the momentous occasion of the realisation of the nebulous dream of making the Somnath temple a reality. There can indeed be no better way to travel through timeline of Somnath and soak in those emotions than reading a first-hand account of the pre-eminence of the Somnath Temple. Kulapati K M Munshi, who was the Chairman of the Somnath Temple Advisory Committee in his book “Somnatha: The Shrine Eternal” presents an unbiased account of the history, significance and primal importance of the Somnath Jyotirlinga. Written in simple English, baring out his emotions, the book makes for perfect reading.

At a time, when a new wave of Hindu awareness is making a splash on the collective consciousness, it would be useful to internalize the valour, zeal and unflinching faith displayed by our ancestors who have sacrificed everything including their lives to uphold the dharma of the land. Somnath Shrine in Saurashtra is the foremost among the Jyotirlingas where Bhagwan Shiva is worshipped in the form of Pashupati located in Prabhasa Pattana or Deva Pattana. Believed to be as old as the creation, the place has been extremely sacred for Hindus. Legends say that Somraj (moon) first built the temple at this place in Gold, Ravana later rebuilt it in Silver, Sri Krishna in Wood and Bhima Deva II in stone.

Somnath has traditionally been a pilgrimage centre built close to the western Triveni, a confluence of three rivers- Hiranya, Kapila and Saraswati, also called Balaka Tirtha where the mortal remains of Sri Krishna were cremated. Close to Somnath shrine is Dehotsarga, where Sri Krishna left his mortal body. Saurashtra is the adopted home of Sri Krishna and occupied a preeminent position for Hindus.

While the exact period of the first temple is still unknown, the second temple dated back to 649 CE was built by Valabhi Kings. During Sindh Governor Al -Junayad’s conquest of Malwa, Broach, Ujjain and Gurjaradesha, Valabhi Kings were overrun. Though there is no concrete evidence of the temple being destroyed, it was replaced by a third temple by Solanki King Mularaja around 970 CE.

By 1019 CE Gujaradesha’s glory reached its zenith and attracted the attention of the Samanid rulers of Ghazni. After subjugating Central Asia, Iran and Sistan, Mahmud of Ghazni tried to enter Hindustan and his attempts were stiffly repelled by the Shahi rulers of the Kabul Valley. After fifteen years of fierce battle, Shahi Kings succumbed. Then Mahmud marched into Punjab, crossed the Yamuna and plundered Mathura. In 1119, Vidhyadhara Chandella defeated Mahmud’s vassal Rayapala of Kanauj and successfully stalled Mahmud’s attacks.

Mahmud who has set his eyes on Somnath launched a surprise attack in 1026 and plundered the temple and broke the Shivling. The Third Temple of Somnath was completely destroyed. By 1045CE Siyaka II performed the Svarna Tula ceremony. Between 1143-72 Kumarapala under the guidance of Bhava Brishpati of the Pashupata cult built the fourth temple, a huge stone temple of 13 storeys studded with precious stones.

In 1299, the generals of Alauddin Khilji- Alaf Khan and Ulugh Khan defeated Karnadeva and sacked the temple and vandalized it. Between 1325-51 Chudasama King Mahipala rebuilt the temple and his son Khangar installed the Shivling. This fifth temple was destroyed by Zaffar Khan, the last governor of the Delhi Sultanate in 1393. He even built a mosque over it. Gujarat rulers again renovated the temple, which was ransacked by the Sultan of Gujarat Mahmud Begada. He converted the Junagadh King to Islam and removed the ling from the temple.

After this Prabhasa declined as a port and Surat rose as great entrepot. Around the same time, the Portuguese attacked several ports and temples in Gujarat including Somnath. Aurangzeb who was initially appointed as the Governor of Gujarat issued a firman to destroy the Somnath temple in 1665. But somehow, the firman couldn’t be executed. In 1702, he issued a fresh firman ordering to destroy the temple beyond repair if any attempts are made to revive it.

After the decline of the Mughals, Marathas rose to power, and in 1783 Queen Ahalya Bai constructed a new temple and placed the ling in an underground shrine beneath the usual upper shrine to save it from any destruction. As Somnath has been at the receiving of the iconoclastic zealotry of the Islamic invaders for centuries.

But unfortunately, even after the Muslim invaders were subdued, the suzerainty of Saurashtra passed on to the Gaekwads and the succession was bestowed to Bahadur Khan of Junagadh. The state of Junagadh wanted to reduce the prominence of the temple and levied a “Chille” wheel tax on every chart engaged by pilgrims in addition to a special tax for taking a bath in Prachi Kund. When the issue was referred to the British who colonised the country, they ruled in favour of the Nawabs of Junagadh. Soon, the glorious temple trodden by the mighty and patronised by the royals began to lose its sheen.

KM Munshi who visited Prabhasa in 1922, found the sacred place in a decrepit condition where a pony of sub-inspector was tied to one of the pillars of the hallowed temple space. Munshi who was shaken by the dilapidated condition of the temple whose pristine glory was rendered asunder by the swords of the mlecchas. The decadence of the epitome of the Hindu civilizational symbol spurred Munshi and Sardar Patel who dreamt of restoring the past glory to this structure of immense veneration.

Sadly, even after independence, the fate of Somnath hung precariously, after the Nawab of Junagadh decided to join Pakistan much against the wishes of over 80% of the Hindus. A mighty wave of indignation swept the people of Junagadh who established a parallel government and submitted a proclamation as how Nawab forfeited his claims of allegiance and expressed their willingness to join the Provisional governor. Finally, on November 9, 1947, Somnath officially came under the control of the Indian Provisional government when Sardar Patel vowed to reconstruct the Somnath temple, the quintessential symbol of Hindu identity.

Gandhi immediately approved the plan of restoration of Somnath who advised that the contribution for reconstruction should come from the Indian public. But Nehru disapproved of the idea of restoration of the temple and called it a “Hindu revivalism” at a Cabinet meeting.

Munshi, who ably led the construction process right from excavation to the finalisation of the temple plans after Sardar’s demise incensed by Nehru’s insinuation, wrote a very long letter to him. The letter reproduced in the appendix of the book is of immense significance and we as people must imbibe, internalise and deeply reflect. It reads “yesterday you referred to Hindu revivalism. You pointedly referred to me in the Cabinet as connected with Somnath. I am glad you did so; for I do not want to keep back any part of my views of activities… I can assure you that the ‘Collective Subconscious’ of India today is happier with the scheme of reconstruction of Somnath… than with many other things that we have done and are doing”.

Without holding back any of his thoughts, unapologetically, Mushi concludes the letter by saying, “It is the faith in our past which has given me the strength to work in present and look forward to our future. I can not value freedom if it deprives us of the Bhagavad Gita or uproots our millions from the faith with which they look upon our temples and thereby destroy the texture of our lives. I have been given the privilege of seeing my incessant dream of Somnatha reconstruction come true. That makes me feel- makes me almost sure- that this shrine once restored to a place of importance in our lives will give to our people a purer conception of religion and more vivid consciousness of our strength, so vital in these days of freedom and its trials”.

These words, uttered almost seven decades ago are as relevant then as they are today. Even now, under the garb of secularism, every attempt to reclaim our civilisational identity is ruthlessly trampled and brazenly ridiculed. The challenges to the Hindu civilisation are much graver now than in the post-independence days.

The story of the revival of the Somnath temple is no mean feat and signifies our civilisational spirit. Munshi notes, how over the eons, “An ancient race subconsciously felt that it was Somnath which connected it with the past and the present; it was the eternal symbol of its faith in itself and in its future. As often as the shrine was destroyed, the urge to restore it sprang up more vividly in its heart”. The undying spirit and this inextinguishable zeal to hold on to our roots and civilisational identity can alone rejuvenate us to stay stronger as ever.

Written in a hurry, ahead of the foundation ceremony on 11^th May 1951, Munshi dedicates the book to Sardar Patel which says, “but for whom, mine eyes would not have seen the shrine of Somnath rise again” observing that primarily because of Sardar, the temple rose again.

Replete with an unbiased account of the historical details, this book is a must-read for everyone who aspires to work towards the revival of Hindu civilisation.

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