Saiva · Prabhas Patan, Gir Somnath, Gujarat
Somnath Jyotirlinga
Somnath (Jyotirlinga), the linga Chandran built to be freed of his father-in-law’s curse
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The temple in short
- Deity
- Somnath (Jyotirlinga), the linga Chandran built to be freed of his father-in-law’s curse
- Where
- Prabhas Patan, Gir Somnath, Gujarat · 20.89N 70.40E
- Usual hours
- 6 am – 9.30 pm, three aartis — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?
- Grahas
- Chandran
- Visited for
- The first of the twelve Jyotirlingas, on the Arabian Sea, rebuilt many times. The Chandra connection makes it the North Indian sthalam for a weak or afflicted Moon; Kartik Purnima and Maha Sivaratri are its days.
The sthala purana
Tradition, as it is told at the temple
The sthala purana has it that Chandra married the twenty-seven daughters of Daksha and favoured Rohini above the rest, and that Daksha cursed him to waste away.
Chandra is said to have worshipped Sivan at Prabhas on the sea and to have had the curse lifted in part — which is why he wanes and waxes again instead of vanishing. Sivan took the name Somnath, the lord of Soma, from him. This is the reason the temple is named in the north for an afflicted or weak Moon in a chart.
What is recorded
Documented history
Somnath is the first of the twelve Jyotirlingas. It has been destroyed and rebuilt repeatedly; the raid of Mahmud of Ghazni in 1026 is the best known of those episodes and is recorded on both sides.
The temple standing today is entirely modern. It was rebuilt after Independence at the instance of Vallabhbhai Patel and completed in the 1950s, in the Chalukya style, on the old site by the sea.
The Baan Stambh, a pillar on the shore, carries an inscription stating that there is no land in a straight line south of that point until the pole. It is much photographed and the claim holds on a globe.
What there is to see
Description
The temple stands directly on the Arabian Sea with nothing between its back wall and the water, and the sound of the surf carries into the sanctum.
The stonework is new and sharply cut, which is a different experience from a weathered temple and worth knowing beforehand.
The Baan Stambh is on the seafront beside it, and the Triveni Sangam, where the Hiran, Kapila and Saraswati are said to meet the sea, is a short distance away and is used for tarpanam.
The temple year
The days it is fullest
Maha Shivaratri and Kartik Purnima are the two great days, and the Somnath fair is held at Kartik Purnima.
The Mondays of Shravan fill the temple. A sound and light show is run on the seafront most evenings.
Getting there, and what else it is called
- Also called
- Prabhas Patan, Somnath Mahadev, Deo Pattan
- Period
- The present temple was built after Independence and completed in the 1950s
- Reaching it
- Somnath is at Prabhas Patan, about 6 km from Veraval, which is the nearest railway station. Junagadh is roughly 80 km away and Diu has the nearest airport.
Where it is
Others within reach
Nearest first, by straight-line distance
Add what you know
Been to this temple? The things that change — whether the hours on this page were right, whether the sannidhi was open, how long the queue was on a Saturday — are exactly what no printed source keeps current, and what the next person travelling here needs.
- Were the hours right when you went?
- Is anything on this page wrong or out of date?
- A photograph of the gopuram, the tank, or the notice board
A contribution carries a name, so a reader knows whose account it came from. That is why it needs an account, and it is the only reason.
Parihaaram is traditional practice, offered for devotion and peace of mind; it is not a guaranteed cure of any condition. Temple hours change with festivals and the season, so check before travelling.