Somnath Temple - Someswara Jyothirlingam

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The next morning, I woke up at 8:30 am to a boisterous man over the phone. The train had all ready crossed Ahmedabad by that time. On the way, it is easy to realize where the “Indian Smiths” (Patels) have been storing their dollars. There is so much of construction going on. The next few hours, I worked on a pending scientific paper review that I had been sitting on for 4 weeks. I called few hotels in Somnath & Veraval. I decided to check into Hotel Satkar (400Rs for AC room) train had reached Veraval on time and got down at veraval since the hotel is at this place. Auto charge is 15Rs to the hotel (near Bus stand). Surprisingly, the hotel was very well maintained. It is certainly not luxurious but it was clean. The owner stays in house at speaks very good English. The AC was not working and he had immediately changed me to a different room. He was very friendly and helpful. The asked the auto driver to pick me up at 6:30pm to go to Somnath Temple (8kms) for an up & down fare of 100Rs. That was very reasonable considering the one hour or more of wait time.

I quickly got ready and reached the temple at 7:00pm, right on time for the evening Arti. The temple is gorgeous with great architecture made out of pure marble. The temple sits right on the shore. With the sun starting to set, it was a perfect backdrop. Location wise, it is arguably the best Siva temple (any temple for that matter) that I had come across and I have been to quite a few. Nothing beats this temple. Architecture wise, there are no temples on this planet that compare to the ones in TamilNadu. Somnath temple was once destroyed by Mohd: Ghazani thousand years ago and it was rebuilt several times after many such destructions by the muslims. Historians claim that this temple was once made out of gold. The interior of the temple was ornate and the premise was neatly maintained (no electronics allowed). There is a free cloak room that you can use. It is safe to store your cellphones, cameras and other electronics. Locals claim that this is the first jyothirlingam temple among the twelve.

The evening arti was one of its kind that I had experienced. It involved the arti (deepam), musicians playing the drums, bells, & flute. You just cannot resist to chant the mantras. I just felt my body quiver with the experience. I had thoroughly enjoyed it. The devotees were not allowed to go anywhere near the Jyothirlingam. There was so much security around. The patels did a great job in maintaining the property. After the Arti, I stepped out of the temple and saw that the moon was already up. I walked to the perimeter wall of the temple and noted that the waves were almost hitting against the temple. With half moon, temple lighting with bhajans and ocean waves with breeze, it cannot get any better than this. Supposedly there is a light and sound show that starts at 8:00pm. But I reserved that to come back at some point in future and enjoy with family.

On my way back, I went to Triveni Sangamam. Legend has it that this is the place where Lord Krishna attained heavenly abode after being shot in the leg by a tribal archer. I then went to Bhalka Thirth, the place where Krishna was shot in the leg. It is a small temple that depicts Krishna with an injured foot and the archer kneeling near him after realizing the mistake. I guess justice is done because the archer is none other than Vaali that was killed by Rama. After being injured, Krishna walked for 4 kms to triveni sangamam where he finally left this planet. Although photos were not allowed, I sneaked in with couple of shots of Lord Krishna and the Archer. It was 9:00pm by the time, I got back to my room.

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Comments

[anonymous]

do u suppose Krishnan eventually died of sepsis/tetanus?