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[edit] Somnath

Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.

Ancient town in the State of Junagarh, Kathiawar, Bombay, situated in 20° 53' N. and 70 degree 28' E., at the eastern extremity of a bay on the south coast of the peninsula of Kathiawar. Population (1901), 8,341. The western headland of the bay is occupied by the port of Veraval, which gives to the locality its more common name of Veraval Pattan. On the edge of the sea, nearly half-way between the two towns, stands a large and conspicuous temple, dedicated to Siva. A few hundred yards behind this temple is the reservoir called the Bhat Kund, the traditional scene of the death of Krishna. Farther inland rises the wild hill district called the Gir, and in the remote distance stands out the sacred mountain which the people of Kathiawar delight to call the ' royal Girnar.' The country near Somnath is full of memorials of Krishna, the principal centre of interest being a spot to the east of the town, where, near the union of three beautiful streams, the body of the hero is said to have been burnt.

Somnath is a gloomy place — a city of graves and ruins. On the west the plain is covered with Musalman tombs, on the east are numerous Hindu shrines and monuments. The town was protected on the south by a fort, and on the remaining three sides by a deep trench cut out of the solid rock. The fort, situated on the shore within a few feet of high-water mark, does not depart in any important particular from the general design of Gujarat fortresses. It is square in form, with large gateways in the centre of each side, outworks or barbicans in front of these, and second gateways in the sides of the outworks. Somnath is now especially famous for the manufacture of door-locks made of wood and iron. It is the head-quarters of a mahal or revenue division, with the courts of revenue and judicial officers. Though some wealthy bankers and merchants reside here, the moneyed classes have mostly betaken themselves to the neigh- bouring port of Veraval.

Before its capture by Mahmud of Ghazni (1024-6), little is known of the history of Somnath. In the eighth century this part of Kathi- awar is said to have been in the hands of a Hne of Rajput princes bearing the surname of Chavada. These chiefs probably owned allegiance to powerful Chalukyas or Solankis, who reigned at Kalyan in the Deccan. Mahmud of Ghazni, after his invasion, left behind him a Muhammadan governor at Somnath. Subsequently the A^ajas (a sub- branch of the Rathor tribe) acquired Somnath and revived the glories of the ancient fane. But it was again overthrown by Ulugh in 1298. From this date Muhammadan supremacy prevailed. Afterwards, on the downfall of the Muhammadan power, Somnath was ruled at different times by the Shaikh of Mangrol and the Rana of Porbandar, but was finally conquered by the Nawab of Junagarh, in whose hands it remains.

[edit] A backgrounder

Yashee, January 21, 2024: The Indian Express

A photographic restoration of the ‘gates of Somnath’ brought from Ghazni by the British. (Photo- Wikimedia Commons)
From: Yashee, January 21, 2024: The Indian Express

While the story of Jawaharlal Nehru expressing his reservations about President Rajendra Prasad’s participation in the ceremony is well-known, often missed out in popular accounts are the reasons Nehru gave for this. Also ignored is the role the British played in painting Somnath as a symbol of Hindus’ victimisation by Muslims.

Somnath, till 1947

Located in Prabhas Patan, Veraval, in Gujarat, Somnath is an important Hindu pilgrimage. According to the temple’s website, it is “the holy place of the First Aadi Jyotirling Shree Somnath Mahadev and the sacred soil where Lord Shri Krishna took his last journey…”

By most historical accounts, the temple faced several attacks from raiders, with the most damaging by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1026 CE.

Of course, not all Muslim rulers opposed it. Historian Romila Thapar, in her book Somanatha: The Many Voices of History, writes that “in the sixteenth century, Akbar permitted the worship of the linga in the Somanatha temple and appointed desais /officers to administer it.”

She also cites a remark by Abul Fazl about the temple — while he does not criticise Mahmud of Ghazni, he describes the temple raid as “the plunder of the virtuous”. “…fanatical bigots representing India as a country of unbelievers at war with Islam, incited his unsuspecting nature to the wreck of honour and the shedding of blood and the plunder of the virtuous,” Fazl writes.

Three generations after Akbar, however, Aurangzeb gave orders for its destruction. He subsequently issued “a further and later order for its destruction and its conversion into a mosque in 1706 just before he died,” Thapar writes.

Gradually, the temple fell into disuse and disrepair. According to the temple website, in 1782, Maratha queen Ahalyabai Holkar built a small temple at the site.

The temple was first highlighted as a symbol of Islam’s excesses on Hindus by British Governor General Lord Ellenborough. In 1842, the British Army suffered heavy losses in its Afghanistan expedition. A retaliatory strike was carried out, and it is during this time that the “gates of Somnath” carried away by Mahmud of Ghazni surfaced in a major way. The British brought back a pair of sandalwood gates from Ghazni, claiming they were the original gates of Somnath taken by the invader. They eventually turned out not to be connected to the temple.

Ellenborough framed this exercise as the “avenging of an insult”.

On November 16, 1842, he issued a proclamation “to all the Princes and Chiefs, and people of India”, which read: “Our victorious army bears the gates of the temple of Somnauth in triumph from Afghanistan…That insult of eight hundred years is at last avenged.”

He added: “I have ever relied with confidence upon your attachment to the British Government. You see how worthy it proves itself of your love, when, regarding your honour as its own, it exerts the power of its arms to restore to you the gates of the temple of Somnauth, so long the memorial of your subjection to the Afghans.”

This narrative persisted, and as the communal divide worsened in the run-up to Independence, many Hindus started regarding the restoration of Somnath as a project essential to Hindu pride. Among the more vocal of such people was Congress leader K M Munshi.

After Independence

After Independence, the Nawab of Junagadh, where Somnath was located, decided to accede to Pakistan, even though most of his subjects opposed this. The Nawab soon had to flee in the face of rebellion, and on November 12, 1947, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the then Home Minister of India, visited Junagadh. At a huge public gathering, he announced the decision to reconstruct Somnath.

This was endorsed by the Union Cabinet headed by Nehru. However, when Patel, Munshi and others conveyed the decision to Mahatma Gandhi, he suggested that instead of the government funding the project, the money should come from the people. The others agreed, and a Trust was set up for the purpose under Munshi.

Nehru’s letters to Rajendra Prasad on Somnath

By the time the temple was ready, Patel had passed away. Munshi approached Prasad for the inauguration. Nehru made no secret of his opposition to this. In a letter to Prasad in March 1951, he wrote, “I confess that I do not like the idea of your associating yourself with a spectacular opening of the Somnath Temple. This is not merely visiting a temple, which can certainly be done by you or anyone else, but rather participating in a significant function which unfortunately has a number of implications.”

Prasad, however, maintained that he saw nothing wrong in attending the event. A month later, Nehru wrote to him again, “My dear Rajendra Babu, I am greatly worried about the Somnath affair. As I feared, it is assuming a certain political importance… In criticism of our policy in regard to it, we are asked how a secular Government such as ours can associate itself with such a ceremony which is, in addition, revivalist in character.”

When newspaper reports emerged of the Saurashtra government contributing Rs 5 lakh towards the ceremony, he wrote to Prasad, “At any time this would have been undesirable, but at the present juncture, when starvation stalks the land and every kind of national economy and austerity are preached by us, this expenditure by a government appears to me to be almost shocking. We have stopped expenditure on education, on health and many beneficent services because we say that we cannot afford it.”

He also wrote to Chief Ministers on May 2, 1951, “It should be clearly understood that this function is not governmental and the GoI has nothing to do with it…We must not do anything that comes in the way of our state being secular.”

Another thing Nehru opposed, as Thapar writes, “was a circular sent round to Indian ambassadors, asking them to collect and send to Somanatha containers of water from the major rivers of the countries to which they were accredited, as well as soil and twigs from the mountains of these countries.” Nehru asked the Ministry of External Affairs to ignore these requests.

[edit] The temple

The Times of India, June 3, 2015

Jijaysinh Parmar

Somnath temple stands at the shore of the Arabian Sea on the western corner of the Subcontinent on Saurashtra. This pilgrimage is one of the oldest in the country.

Shree Somnath temple is first among the twelve Aadi Jyotirlings of India. The pran-Pratishtha at the existing temple was done in 1951 by the then President of India Dr Rajendra Prashad.

[edit] Restrictions on entry

Since 2015 non-Hindus have been required to take permission from office of general manager of Shree Somnath Trust before entering into Somnath Temple for darshan. It has been made mandatory to all non-Hindu pilgrims.

Shree Somnath Trust, which manages ancient Somnath temple, put up a prominent notice board at the temple campus on the coastal town of Gir-Somnath district.

The notice reads: "The Somnath Jyotirling Tirthdham is holy place for Hindus. In this holy place of Hindus, non-Hindus will only be allowed for Darshan in Somnath temple who have taken permission from General Manager's office." The notice has been issued on behalf of Somnath Trust.

[edit] The trust

Importantly, Shree Somnath Trust's chairman is former chief minister Keshubhai Patel and its trustees includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former chief secretary of Gujarat P K Laheri and former deputy prime minister L K Advani.

L K Advani had kicked off his Rathyatra from this temple town in 1991 which followed by Babri Mosque demolition in AyodhyA.