Somnath Jyotirlinga

Somanātha stands right on the shore of the Arabian Sea at Prabhas Patan, a short distance from the port town of Veraval on the Saurashtra coast of Gujarat. The old name of the place is Prabhāsa, and the traditional lists of the twelve jyotirliṅgas begin with it: “Saurāṣṭre Somanāthaṃ ca”.

The Śiva Purāṇa tells that Candra, the Moon, married the twenty-seven daughters of Dakṣa but gave all his affection to Rohiṇī. The neglected sisters complained to their father, and when Candra ignored repeated warnings Dakṣa cursed him to waste away. As his light failed, the gods turned to Brahmā, who sent Candra to Prabhāsa to worship Śiva with the Mṛtyuñjaya mantra. Śiva was pleased. He did not cancel the curse outright but softened it: the Moon would wane for one fortnight and grow again for the next. At the prayer of Candra and the gods he remained there as Somanātha, “the Lord of Soma”, the Moon.

The shrine has been destroyed and rebuilt several times in its history; the raid of Mahmud of Ghazni in 1026 is the best known. The present temple was built after Independence on the initiative of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and the liṅga was installed in 1951 in the presence of the President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad. For many pilgrims it is as much a symbol of renewal as a place of worship, which suits a legend about the Moon recovering its light.