Editing Somnath temple (section)

== Temple Architecture ==
=== Pre-11th century temple ===
The floor plan and ruins of a pre-1000 CE temple were unearthed during the archaeological excavations led by B.K. Thapar. Most of the temple is lost, but the remains of the foundation, the lower structure as well as pieces of the temple ruins suggest an "exquisitely carved, rich" temple. According to Dhaky – a scholar of Indian temple architecture, this is the earliest known version of the Somnath temple. It was, what historic Sanskrit ''vastu sastra'' texts call the ''tri-anga sandhara prasada''. Its ''[[garbhagriha]]'' (sanctum) was connected to a ''mukhamandapa'' (entrance hall) and ''gudhamandapa''.{{sfn|Dhaky|1998|pp=285–287, with Plates 648–661 in Part 3(2) for photographs}}

The temple opened to the east. The stylobate of this destroyed temple had two parts: the 3 feet high pitha-socle and the vedibandha-podium. The pitha had a tall ''bhitta'', joined to the jadyakumbha, ornamented with what Dhaky calls "crisp and charming foliage pattern". The kumbha of the Vedibandha had a Surasenaka with a niche that contained the figure of [[Lakulisa]] – this evidence affirms that the lost temple was a Shiva temple.{{sfn|Dhaky|1998|pp=285–287, with Plates 648–661 in Part 3(2) for photographs}}

The excavations yielded pieces of one at the western end, which suggests that the kumbhas were aligned to the entire wall. Above the kalaga moulding was an ''antarapatta'', states Dhaky, but no information is available to determine its design or ornamentation. The surviving fragment of the kapotapali that was discovered suggests that at "intervals, it was decorated with contra-posed half thakaras, with large, elegant, and carefully shaped gagarakas in suspension graced the lower edge of the kapotapali", states Dhaky.{{sfn|Dhaky|1998|pp=285–287, with Plates 648–661 in Part 3(2) for photographs}} The garbhagriha had a vedibandha, possibly with a two-layered jangha with images on the main face showing the influence of the late Maha-Maru style. Another fragment found had a "beautifully moulded rounded pillarette and a ribbed khuraccadya-awning topped the khattaka".{{sfn|Dhaky|1998|pp=285–287, with Plates 648–661 in Part 3(2) for photographs}}

The mukhachatuski, states Dhaky, likely broke and fell immediately after the destructive hit by Mahmud's troops. These fragments suffered no further erosion or damage one would normally expect, likely because it was left in the foundation pit of the new Somnath temple that was rebuilt quickly after Mahmud left. The "quality of craftsmanship" in these fragments is "indeed high", the carvings of the lost temple were "rich and exquisite", states Dhaky. Further, a few pieces have an inscription fragment in the 10th-century characters – which suggests that this part of the temple or the entire temple was built in the 10th century.{{sfn|Dhaky|1998|pp=285–287, with Plates 648–661 in Part 3(2) for photographs}}

;19th-century ruined Somnath temple partly converted into mosque
The efforts of colonial era archaeologists, photographers and surveyors have yielded several reports on the architecture and arts seen at the Somnath temple ruins in the 19th century.{{sfn|Cousens|1931|pp=11–28}} The earliest survey reports of Somnath temple and the condition of the Somanatha-Patan-Veraval town in the 19th century were published between 1830 and 1850 by British officers and scholars. [[Alexander Burnes]] surveyed the site in 1830, calling Somnath site as "far-famed temple and city". He wrote:<ref name="Burnes"/>

[[File:Ancient Somnath temple, Veraval Gujarat.jpg|thumb|Floor plan of the main Somnath temple, Veraval Gujarat]]
{{Blockquote|The great temple of Somnath stands on a rising ground on the north-west side of Pattan, inside the walls, and is only separated by them from the sea. It may be scen from a distance of twenty-five miles. It is a massy stone building, evidently of some antiquity. Unlike Hindu temples gencrally, it consists of three domes, the first of which forms the roof of the entrance, the second is the interior of the temple, the third was the sanctum sanctorum, wherein were deposited the riches of Hindi devotion. The two external domes are diminutive: the central one has an elevation of more than thirty feet, tapering to the summit in fourteen steps, and is about forty feet in diameter. It is perfect, but the images which have once adorned both the interior and exterior of the building are mutilated, and the black polished stones which formed its floor have been removed by the citizens for less pious purposes. Two marble slabs, with sentences from the Koran, and inscriptions regarding Mangrol Isa, point out where that Mohammedan worthy rests. They arc on the western side of the city, and the place is still frequented by the devout Moslem. Near it is a cupola, supported on pillars, to mark the grave of the sultan's cashkeeper, with many others; and the whole city is encircled by the remains of mosques, and one vast cemetery, ‘The field of battle, where the “infidels” were conquered, is also pointed out, and the massy walls, excavated ditch, paved streets, and squared-stone buildings of Pattan itself, proclaim its former greatness. At present the city is a perfect ruin, its houses are nearly unoccupied and but for a new and substantial temple, erected to house the god of Somnath by that wonderful woman, Ahalya Bai, the wife of Holkar.|Alexander Burnes<ref name="Burnes">{{cite journal |last=Burnes |first=Alexander |title=Account of the Remains of the Celebrated Temple at Pattan Somnath, Sacked by Mahmúd of Ghizni, AD 1024 |journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |publisher= Cambridge University Press |volume=5 |issue=1 |year=1839 |jstor=25181974 |pages=104–107 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00015173 |s2cid=163352567 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1746351 }}; {{PD-notice}}</ref>}}

He states that the site shows how the temple had been changed into a Muslim structure with arch, these sections had been reconstructed with "mutilated pieces of the temple's exterior" and "inverted Hindu images". Such modifications in the dilapidated Somnath temple to make it into a "Mohammedan sanctuary", states Burnes, is "proof of Mohammedan devastation" of this site.<ref name="Burnes"/> Burnes also summarized some of the mythologies he heard, the bitter communal sentiments and accusations, as well as the statements by garrisoned "Arabs of the Junagar [Junagadh] chief" about their victories in this "infidel land".<ref name="Burnes"/>

The survey report of Captain Postans was published in 1846. He states:<ref name=postans/>
{{Blockquote|Pattan, and all the part of the country wherein it is situated, is now under a Mohamedan ruler, the Nawab of Junagadh, and the city itself offers the most curious specimen of any I have ever seen of its original Hindu character, preserved throughout its walls, gates, and buildings, despite Mohammedan innovations and a studied attempt to obliterate the traces of paganism ; even the very musjids, which are here and there encountered in the town, have been raised by materials
from the sacred edifices of the conquered, or, as it is said by the historians of Sindh, “the true believers turned the temples of the idol worshippers into places of prayer.” Old Pattan is to this day a Hindu city in all but its inhabitants—perhaps one of the most interesting historical spots in Western India. [...] Somnath assumed the appearance it now presents, of a temple evidently of pagan original altered by the introduction of a Mohammedan style of architecture in various portions, but leaving its general plan and minor features unmolested. [...] The temple consists of one large hall in an oblong form, from one end of which proceeds a small square chamber, or sanctum. The centre of the hall is occupied by a noble dome over an octagon of eight arches; the remainder of the roof terraced and supported by numerous pillars. There are three éntrances. The sides of the building face to the cardinal points, and the principal entrance appears to be on the eastern side. These doorways ave unusually high and wide, in the Pyramidal or Egyptian form, decreasing towards the top; they add much to the effect of the building. Internally, the whole presents a scene of complete destruction; the pavement is everywhere covered with heaps of stones and rubbish; the facings of the walls, capitals of the pillars, in short, every portion possessing anything approaching to ornament, having been defaced or removed, (if not by Mahmud, by those who subsequently converted this temple into its present semi-Mohammedan appearance). [...] Externally the whole of the buildings are most elaborately carved and ornamented with figures, single and in groups of various dimensions, Many of them appear to have been of some size; but so laboriously was the work of mutilation carried on here, that of the larger figures scarcely a trunk has been left, whilst few even of the most minute remain uninjured. The western side is the most perfect: here the pillars and ornaments are in excellent preservation. The front entrance is ornamented with a portico, and surmounted by two slender minarets ornaments so much in the Mohammedan style, that they, as well as the domes, have evidently been added to the original building.|Thomas Postans<ref name=postans>{{cite journal |first1=Captain |last1=Postans |title=A Few Observations on the Temple of Somnath |jstor= 25207608 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |year= 1846 |pages=172–175 |volume=8 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00142789 |s2cid=163925101 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/2015984}}; {{PD-notice}}</ref>}}

A more detailed survey report of Somnath temple ruins was published in 1931 by Henry Cousens.{{sfn|Cousens|1931|pp=11–28}} Cousens states that the Somnath temple is dear to the Hindu consciousness, its history and lost splendor remembered by them, and no other temple in Western India is "so famous in the annals of Hinduism as the temple of Somanatha at Somanatha-Pattan". The Hindu pilgrims walk to the ruins here and visit it along with their pilgrimage to Dwarka, Gujarat, though it has been reduced to a 19th-century site of gloom, full of "ruins and graves".{{sfn|Cousens|1931|pp=11–13}} His survey report states:{{sfn|Cousens|1931|pp=11–28}}

{{Blockquote|The old temple of Somanatha is situated in the town, and stands upon the shore towards its eastern end, being separated from the sea by a heavily built retaining wall which prevents the former from washing away the ground around the foundations of the shrine. Little now remains of the walls of the temple; they have been, in great measure, rebuilt and patched with rubble to convert the building into a mosque. The great dome, indeed the whole roof and the stumpy minars, one of which remains above the front entrance, are portions of the Muhammadan additions. [...] One fact alone shows that the temple was built on a large scale, and that is the presence in its basement of the ''asvathara'' or horse-moulding. It was probably about the same size, in plan, as the Rudra Mala at Siddhapur, being, in length, about 140 feet over all. [...] The walls, or, at least, the outer casing of them, having in great part fallen, there is revealed, in several places, the finished masonry and mouldings of the basement of an older temple, which appears not to have been altogether removed when the temple, we now see, was built, portions of this older temple being apparently left in situ to form the heart and core of the later masonry. [...] For several reasons, I have come to the conclusion that the ruined temple, as it now stands, save for the Muhammadan additions, is a remnant of the temple built by Kumarapala, king of Gujarat, about AD 1169.|Henry Cousens{{sfn|Cousens|1931|pp=13–14}}}}

;Present temple
The present temple is a [[Māru-Gurjara architecture]] (also called Chaulukya or Solanki style) temple. It has a "Kailash Mahameru Prasad" form, and reflects the skill of the [[Sompura Salat]]s, one of Gujarat's master masons.<ref name="somnath.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.somnath.org/jay-somnath.aspx |title=Shree Somnath Trust :: Jay Somnath |publisher=Somnath.org |access-date=1 November 2014 |archive-date=30 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111030093334/http://www.somnath.org/jay-somnath.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The architect of the new Somnath temple was Prabhashankarbhai Oghadbhai Sompura, who worked on recovering and integrating the old recoverable parts with the new design in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The new Somnath temple is intricately carved, two level temple with pillared [[mandapa]] and 212 relief panels.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Scriver |first1=P. |last2=Srivastava |first2=A. |title=India: Modern Architectures in History |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-78023-468-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AdAZDgAAQBAJ |pages=314–315}}</ref>

[[File:Somanath Temple.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|A wide-angle view – a bit distorted – from the southeast side of the present Somnath temple. Nataraja can be seen on the ''sukhanasi'', along with the two-storey design.]]
The temple's [[shikhara|śikhara]], or main spire, is {{Convert|15|m|ft}} in height above the sanctum, and it has an 8.2-metre-tall flag pole at the top.<ref name="somnath.org"/> According to Ananda Coomaraswamy – an art and architecture historian, the earlier Somnath temple ruin followed the Solanki-style, which is Nagara architecture inspired by the [[Vesara]] ideas found in Western regions of India.<ref>A Coomaraswamy (1927), History of Indian and Indonesian Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Edward Goldston, p. 111</ref>

===Artwork===
The rebuilt temple as found in the ruined form in the 19th century and the current temple used recovered parts of previous temple with significant artwork. The new temple has added and integrated the new panels with a few old ones, the color of the stone distinguishing the two. The panels and pillars with historic artwork were and are found in the south and southwest side of the Somnath temple.{{sfn|Cousens|1931|p=16}}

In general, the reliefs and sculpture is mutilated, to the point that it is difficult for most to "identify the few images that remain" on panels, states Cousens.{{sfn|Cousens|1931|p=16}} An original [[Nataraja]] (Tandava Shiva), albeit with chopped arms and defaced, can be seen on the south side. A mutilated [[Nandi (mythology)|Nandi]] is to the right. To the left of this are traces of Shiva-[[Parvati]], with the goddess seated in his lap.{{sfn|Cousens|1931|p=16}} Towards the north-east corner, portions of panels in a band similar to ''[[Ramayana]]'' scenes in historic Hindu temples can be traced.  Sections can be seen with "beautiful vertical mouldings, on either side of the main front doorway", states Cousens, and this suggests that the destroyed temple was "exceedingly richly carved". The temple likely had a galaxy of Vedic and Puranic deities, as one of the partially surviving relief shows [[Surya]]'s iconography – two lotuses in his hand.{{sfn|Cousens|1931|p=16}}

The older temple featured an open plan, with great windows that allow light into the mandapa and circumambulation passage. The intricate and detailed artwork inside and on the pillars of Somnath temple were quite similar to those found in the [[Luna Vasahi temple]] at [[Mount Abu]].{{sfn|Cousens|1931|p=17}}