Somnath temple
Veraval, India
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The Somnath temple, located in Prabhas Patan, Veraval, in Gujarat, is one of Hinduism's most sacred pilgrimage sites and the foremost of the twelve jyotirlinga shrines dedicated to Shiva. The date of the earliest temple's construction remains uncertain, with estimates ranging from the early centuries of the 1st millennium to about the 9th century CE, though ancient texts including the Mahabharata and Bhagavata Purana reference a pilgrimage site at Prabhas Patan. The temple endured repeated destruction by Muslim invaders, beginning with Mahmud Ghazni's assault in January 1026, and was subsequently reconstructed multiple times. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, colonial-era archaeologists studied the ruins as they showed a Hindu temple gradually converted into a mosque. Following India's independence, the ruins were demolished and the temple was reconstructed in the Māru-Gurjara style of Hindu temple architecture under the direction of Vallabhbhai Patel, the first Deputy Prime Minister of India, with reconstruction completed in May 1951.
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- Type
- Shiva temple
- Place
- Veraval, India
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