The Temple That Would Not Stay Fallen

It was pulled down at least five times across seven hundred years. It is standing today because each time, somebody decided the last destruction would not be the last word.

What was there

Somnath stands at Prabhas Patan on the Gujarat coast. And it is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas.

Those are the shrines where Shiva is held to have manifested as a column of light. The most sacred category of lingam shrine in the tradition.

The coast made it rich before the pilgrims did. It was a landmark for sailors, sitting on trade routes that ran west to Arabia and Africa.

And the wealth of that trade went into the temple as offerings, for centuries. Al-Biruni was the Central Asian scholar who wrote about India in the early eleventh century.

He described it as one of the most celebrated places in the country.