3. Somnath temple
The Somnath Temple located in
the Prabhas Kshetra near Veraval
in Saurashtra, on the western coast
of Gujarat, India, is one of the
twelve Jyotirlinga shrines of the
God Shiva. Somnath means "The
Protector of (the) Moon God". The
Somnath Temple is known as "the
Shrine Eternal", having been
destroyed six times and rebuilt six
times. Most recently it was rebuilt
in November 1947, when Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel visited the area
for the integration of Junagadh and
mooted a plan for restoration. After
Patel's death, the rebuilding
continued under Shri K. M. Munshi,
another minister of the
Government of India.

4. Significance
According to the legend, Soma or
the Moon God built the temple in
gold, Ravana in silver, and Shri
Krishna in wood. Soma was cursed
by his father-in-law Daksha to wane
because Soma loved only one of his
wives, all of whom happened to be
Daksha's daughters. His other wives
complained about this negligent
behavior of Soma to their father
Daksha, and thus the curse. He then
built a Shivlinga at the Prabhas tirth
(a Hindu pilgrimage) and prayed to
Lord Shiva who removed the curse
partially because asked upon by
Soma's one wife (the one that he
loved more than others). Thus,
causing the periodic waning of
moon. Pleased by the prayers of
Soma (Moon god), Lord Shiva
decided to rest in that Lingam till
eternity, and thus the Jyotirlingam.

5. Legend
As per Shiv Mahapuran, once
Brahma (the Hindu God of creation)
and Vishnu (the Hindu God of
saving) had an argument in terms of
supremacy of creation. To test
them, Shiva pierced the three
worlds as a huge endless pillar of
light, the jyotrilinga. Vishnu and
Brahma split their ways to
downwards and upwards
respectively to find the end of the
light in either directions. Brahma
lied that he found out the end, while
Vishnu conceded his defeat. Shiva
appeared as a second pillar of light
and cursed Brahma that he would
have no place in ceremonies while
Vishnu would be worshipped till the
end of eternity.

6. Legend
The jyotirlinga is the supreme
partless reality, out of which Shiva
partly appears. jyothirlinga shrines,
thus are places where Shiva
appeared as a fiery column of light.
Originally there were believed to be
64 jyothirlingas while 12 of them
are considered to be very auspicious
and holy. Each of the twelve
jyothirlinga sites take the name of
the presiding deity - each
considered different manifestation
of Shiva. At all these sites, the
primary image is lingam
representing the beginningless and
endless Stambha pillar, symbolizing
the infinite nature of Shiva.

7. Legend
At all these sites, the primary image
is lingam representing the
beginning less and endless Stambha
pillar, symbolizing the infinite
nature of Shiva.[8][9][10] The twelve
jyothirlinga are Somnath in Gujarat,
Mallikarjuna at Srisailam in Andra
Pradesh, Mahakaleswar at Ujjain in
Madhya Pradesh, Omkareshwar in
Madhya Pradesh, Kedarnath in
Himalayas, Bhimashankar in
Maharastra, Viswanath at Varanasi
in Uttar Pradesh, Triambakeshwar
in Maharastra, vaijanath temple in
Maharashtra, Nageswar at Dwarka
in Gujarat, Rameshwar at
Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu and
Grishneshwar at Aurangabad in
Maharashtra.

8. Architecture
The present temple is built in the
Chalukya style of temple
architecture or Kailash Mahameru
Prasad Style and reflects the skill of
the Sompura Salats, Gujarat's
master masons.The temple is
situated at such a place that there
is no land in straight-line between
Somnath seashore till Antarctica,
such an inscription in Sanskrit is
found on the Arrow-Pillar called
Baan-Stambh erected on the sea-
protection wall at the Somnath
Temple. This Baan-Stambh
mentions that it stands at a point on
the Indian landmass, which
happens to be the first point on land
in the north to the south-pole on
that particular longitude.

14. Gujarat is blessed with rich and
vibrant tradition of
Handicrafts. It is widely
differing in its proportions of its
patterns to the element of
wonderful exquisite Artefacts
in various forms. It stands unique
with diverse arts and crafts – a
mixed combination with aesthetic
appeamous. Gujarat is famous
for its needlework, pottery,
zari, temple culture, woodwork,
textile culture, patola,
beadwork,jewellery, furnishings
and tie – die.

16. The relief is low in the most parts of the
state and involves diverse climate
conditions. The winters are mild, pleasant,
and dry with average daytime
temperatures around 29 °C (84 °F) and
nights around 12 °C (54 °F) with 100
percent sunny days and clear nights. The
summers are extremely hot and dry with
daytime temperatures around 41 °C (106
°F) and at night no lower than 29 °C (84
°F). In the weeks leading up to the arrival
of the monsoon rains the temperatures are
similar to above but with high humidity
which makes the air feel hotter. Relief
comes when the monsoon season starts
around in mid June. The day temperatures
are lowered to around 35 °C (95 °F) but
humidity is very high and nights are
around 27 °C (81 °F). Most of the rainfall
occurs in this season, and the rain can
cause severe floods. The sun is often
occluded during the monsoon season.
Though mostly dry, it is desertic in the
north-west, and wet in the southern
districts due to a heavy monsoon season.