SOMNATH TEMPLE - IAS Gyan

Disclaimer: Copyright infringement not intended.

Context

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new Circuit House at Somnath today.

About

The Somnath temple (also known as the Deo Patan) located in Veraval in Saurashtra on the western coast of Gujarat, is the first among the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva.
As documented by J. Gordon Melton, the first Shiva temple at Somnath is said to have been built at some unknown time in the past.
The second temple is said to have been built at the same site by the "Yadava kings" of Vallabhi around 649 CE.
The Gurjara-Pratihara king Nagabhata II constructed the third temple in 815 CE, a large structure of red sandstone.
The present temple was reconstructed in the Chaulukya style of Hindu temple architectureand completed in 1951.
Presently the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi is the chairman of Somnath Mandir trust.

About Jyotirlingam

A Jyotirlinga or Jyotirlingam, is a devotional representation of the Hindu god Shiva.
There are 64 original Jyotirlinga shrines in India and Nepal, 12 of which are most sacred and they are called the Maha Jyotirlingam.
Out of 12 Jyotirlingas, the southernmost of these is located at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu while the northernmost is located in the Himalayas at Kedarnath in Uttarkhand.