A devotional representation of “SHIVA“. A compound of JYOTIS (‘radiance’) and LINGA (‘sign’). The Śiva Mahapuranam mentions 64 original jyotirlinga shrines
The Somanath temple or Deo Patan is a Hindu temple located in Prabhas Patan, Veraval in Gujarat, Bharat. It is one of the most sacred pilgrimage sites for Hindus and is the first among the twelve jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva.
The temple was reconstructed several times in the past after repeated destruction by multiple invaders and rulers.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, historians and 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. After India’s independence, those ruins were demolished, and the present Somnath temple was reconstructed in the Maru-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 after receiving approval for reconstruction from Mahatma Gandhi. The reconstruction was completed in May 1951, after Gandhi’s death.(ref wikipedia)
