Somnath Temple
Somnath Temple Jyotirlinga is situated at Somnath Patan (the
south coast of Saurashtra), near Veraval in (Prabhas Kshetra)
Kathaiwad district in Gujarat. Somnath is considered to be the
first of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Shiva and is a revered pilgrimage
center in India.
Legend of Somnath Temple
Skanda Purana, in a chapter on Prabhasa Khanda, describes
the emergence of this Jyotirlinga. Legend goes that the moon
was married to the 27 daughters of Daksha Prajapati. Amongst
all his wives, he had special love towards Rohini and neglected
the others. Seeing the negligence of Chandra towards his other
wives Prajapati Daksha cursed Chandra that he would lose his
beauty and radiance. But because of a moon devoid of radiance
and beauty the entire world became lifeless. A disturbed Chandra,
came down to Prabhasa with Rohini and worshipped the Sparsa
Linga of Somnath after which he was blessed by Shiva to grow
and shine in the bright half. As the moon regained his light
here, this town came to be known as Prabhasa. Brahma, one
of the trinity, installed the Brahmashila, and paved way for
the construction of the temple. On the request of the Chandrama
and other gods Bhagwan Shankar assumed the name Somchandra
(Jyotirlinga) and resided there eternally. He became famous
by the name Somnath in the three worlds. Since, it was the
Prabhas Kshetra where Bhagwan Shri Krishna performed all his
Lilas. In this temple there is a small cave in which a lamp
burns continuously.
The Skanda Purana describes the Sparsa Linga of Somnath as
one bright as the sun, the size of an egg, lodged underground.
The Mahabharata also refers to the Prabhasa Kshetra and the
legend of the moon worshipping Shiva.
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