Editing Somnath temple (section)

{{short description|Hindu temple in Gujarat, India}}
{{Redirect|Somanath}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox religious building
| religious_affiliation = [[Hinduism]]
| name                  = Somnath Temple
| native_name           = Somnath Jyotirlinga
| image                 = Somanath mandir (cropped).jpg
| alt                   = Somnath temple in Gujarat
| coordinates           = {{coord|20|53|16.9|N|70|24|5.0|E|type:landmark_region:IN|display=inline,title}}
| map_type              = India Gujarat#India
| map_relief            = yes
| state                 = [[Gujarat]]
| country               = [[India]]
| district              = [[Gir Somnath]]
| locale                = [[Veraval]]
| deity                 = [[Shiva]]
| architecture          = [[Mandir]]
| governing_body        = [https://somnath.org/ Shree Somnath Trust]
| temple_quantity       = 
| monument_quantity     = 
| inscriptions          = 
| year_completed        = 1951
| creator               = * Unknown - <small>by Unknown </small><br /> (Many constructions)
* 1169    - <small>by [[Kumarapala (Chaulukya dynasty)|Kumarapala]]</small>
* 1308    - <small>by [[Mahipala I (Chudasama dynasty)|Mahipal I]]</small>
* 1950    - <small>by The Somnath Trust</small><br /> (Present structure)
| date_demolished       = * 1026 <small>by [[Mahmud of Ghazni]]</small><br />
* 1299 <small>by [[Ulugh Khan]]</small>
* 1395 <small>by [[Muzaffar Shah I]]</small>
* 1706 <small>by [[Aurangzeb]]</small>
| website               = {{URL|https://somnath.org/}}
}}
{{Hinduism small}}
{{Saivism}}
'''Somnath Temple''' is a [[Hindu temple]], located in [[Prabhas Patan]], [[Veraval]] in [[Gujarat]], [[India]]. It is one of the most sacred pilgrimage sites the [[Tirtha (Hinduism)|Tirtha Kshetra]] for [[Hindus]] and is the first among the twelve ''[[jyotirlinga]]'' shrines of [[Shiva]].<ref name="somnathorg-1">{{cite web |url=http://www.somnath.org/home/somnath-darshan |title=Somnath darshan |publisher=Official website of Somnath Temple |access-date=19 December 2016 |archive-date=28 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828025607/http://www.somnath.org/home/somnath-darshan |url-status=dead}}</ref> It is unclear when the first version of the Somnath temple was built, with estimates varying between the early centuries of the 1st millennium and about the 9th century CE.{{sfn|Dhaky|Shastri|1974}}{{sfn|Rosa Maria Cimino|1977}} Various texts, including the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' and ''[[Bhagavata Purana]]'', mention a ''[[Tirtha (Hinduism)|tirtha]]'' (pilgrimage site) at Prabhas Patan on the coastline of Saurashtra, where the later temple was, but archaeology has not found traces of an early temple, though there was a settlement there.{{sfn|Thapar|2005|p=18-19, Chapter 2}}<ref>{{harvnb|Mishra|Ray|2016|p=22}}: "In the case of Somanatha, one has to rely solely on literary evidence as even though excavations reveal an early settlement at the site, there is no evidence for the early existence of a temple at the site...In the ''Mahabharata'', Prabhas Patan has been described as a sacred tirtha located on the coast of the sea (''Vana Parva'', Ch. 109)"</ref>{{sfn |Shastri |Tagare |2004 |pp=1934, 2113}}

The temple was reconstructed several times in the past after repeated destruction by multiple Muslim invaders and rulers, notably starting with an attack by [[Mahmud Ghazni]] in January 1026.{{sfn|Yagnik|Sheth|2005|pp=39–40, 47–50}}{{sfn|Thapar|2005|pp=36–37}}<ref name="Catherine B. Asher, Cynthia Talbot 42">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1GEWAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT42 |title=India before Europe |page=42 |author1=Catherine B. Asher |author2= Cynthia Talbot |year= 2006 |publisher=Sterling Publishers |isbn=9781139915618}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Thapar|2004|pp=68–69}}</ref>

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, historians and [[Archaeology|archaeologists]] of the colonial era actively studied the Somnath temple because its ruins showed a historic Hindu temple that was turning into an Islamic mosque.{{sfn|Cousens|1931|pp=15–18}}<ref name=sykesBL>[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/t/019pho0001000s7u00788000.html The Somanatha temple at Prabhas Patan], D.H. Sykes and Henry Counsens, British Library Archives (2021)</ref>{{sfn|Shakshi|2012|pp=304–306 with Figure 4}} After India's independence, those ruins were demolished, and the present Somnath temple was reconstructed in the [[Māru-Gurjara architecture|Māru-Gurjara style]] of [[Hindu temple architecture]]. The contemporary Somnath temple's reconstruction was started under the orders of the first [[Deputy Prime Minister of India]], [[Vallabhbhai Patel]]. The reconstruction was completed in May 1951.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wVr_f_gXOX4C&q=Somnath+Temple&pg=PA148 |title=Hindu culture during and after Muslim rule: survival and subsequent challenges |author=Gopal, Ram |publisher=M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. |year=1994 |isbn=81-85880-26-3 |page=148}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sICSb-UMiQYC&q=Somnath+Temple&pg=PA84 |title=The Hindu nationalist movement and Indian politics: 1925 to the 1990s |author=Jaffrelot, Christophe |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers |year=1996 |isbn=1-85065-170-1 |page=84}}</ref>