Somnath is one of the famous sacred places amongst 12 holy places, known as the Jyortirling of Lord Shiva. This is the 1st Jyortirling, all the other temples are located in various regions of India. This temple of Lord Shiva was destroyed so many times, and was reconstructed many times. There were so many rulers who tried to destroy the temple during some Islam as well as Mughal rulers.
The word – “Somnath” means the protector of Moon. Somnath is believed to be one of the Sanskrit word, which is an ancient language, in which all the Vedas have been written.
The Somnath temple was built before so many years during ancient period and since the temple is considered as the most holy place of Hindu religion. Also this temple of Somnath has been described into ancient Vedas of Hinduism.
The Somnath temple was destroyed and looted so many times by various rulers and emperors. It is believed that the original temple of Somnath was made of pure gold along with real diamonds. But as it was destroyed by various people, each time the treasure was getting lost and got exploited by number of people. Then the temple was renovated and reconstructed number of times and as aresultthe base of the temple became weak. And by the passing of time, all the treasure of this temple was gone.
By the year 1947, Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel visited the holy temple and ordered to reconstruct the temple. But while the process or reconstruction was still progressing, he died. But then a Minister of India – K. M. Munshi continued the process and finally completed the work. The height of this temple is about 150 feet and at the top of this temple is a larger sized – a 27 feet tall flag pipe which holds the flag.