Somnath

Somnath, at the Prabhas Patan peninsula in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, is the site of the Somnath Temple — the first and most sacred of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva and one of the most historically significant temples in India.

• The temple's history is a story of destruction and defiant reconstruction: the Somnath Temple was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1025 CE (the famous raid for its treasury), reconstructed, sacked again multiple times by subsequent rulers, and rebuilt each time by Hindu kings and communities who regarded its reconstruction as an act of religious and political identity.
• The current temple (a modern reconstruction) is a new-build Chalukya-style structure championed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel — newly independent India's Deputy Prime Minister, who initiated the reconstruction in 1947 as a symbol of national sovereignty and cultural renaissance.
• Patel did not live to see it completed; the temple was consecrated on 11 May 1951 by President Dr. Rajendra Prasad, with K.M.
• Munshi carrying the project through to completion.
• The temple stands directly on the Arabian Sea shore at the precise confluence of three waters (Triveni Ghat — the Kapila, Hiran, and Saraswati rivers entering the sea) — a location of extraordinary spiritual and visual power.
• The Sabha Mandap (the great hall with the central Shivalinga), the Prabhas Patan Museum (adjacent to the temple complex, housing temple ruins and Solanki-period carved panels), the Triveni Ghat bathing steps, and the evening Sound and Light Show (narrating the temple's history against the floodlit shikhara with the Arabian Sea behind) constitute the full Somnath experience.
• The nearby Bhalka Teerth (3 km) marks the spot where Lord Krishna was accidentally struck by a hunter's arrow and shed his earthly body — a major Vaishnava pilgrimage site.
• For vegetarian travellers, the Somnath temple town maintains a pure-vegetarian character; the temple prasad counter distributes free meals. November-March is comfortable.