According to tradition, Somnath’s story begins not with a king or sage, but with the Moon god, Chandra. Married to all twenty-seven daughters of the sage Daksha, Chandra openly favored one wife, Rohini, over the rest — neglecting his other wives so completely that Daksha, enraged on their behalf, cursed him to waste away to nothing.
As Chandra’s light began to fail, he came to Prabhas Patan on the Gujarat coast and undertook fierce penance to Shiva, begging for release. Shiva could not undo Daksha’s curse outright, but he softened it: instead of vanishing forever, Chandra would wane to nothing and then wax back to fullness, in an endless cycle. It is this bargain, tradition holds, that gives the moon its monthly phases even today. In gratitude, Chandra is said to have built the first temple to Shiva at this spot — giving the Jyotirlinga here its name, Somnath, “Lord of the Moon.”
Somnath’s later history is as dramatic as its origin myth. The temple was rebuilt in gold by Chandra, in silver by Ravana in some tellings, in wood by Krishna, and in stone by later kings — and was destroyed and looted repeatedly over the centuries, most infamously by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1025 CE. Its final reconstruction began only after India’s independence, championed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, making the temple standing today as much a symbol of endurance as of devotion.
Planning Your Visit
Somnath sits at Prabhas Patan near Veraval, on the Gujarat coast. The temple has its own railway station, Somnath Railway Station, about 1.4 km away, with Veraval Railway Station (7 km) offering wider connections from Ahmedabad, Rajkot, and Mumbai. The nearest airport is Diu (about 65 km), with Rajkot Airport (around 200 km) as a larger alternative.
The temple is open daily from 6 AM to 9 PM with no entry fee. October to March is the most comfortable window to visit, with Mahashivratri drawing the largest crowds of the year. If you’re combining the trip with other Gujarat pilgrimage sites, Dwarka is a natural add-on a few hours up the coast.
What Makes This Story Timeless
Somnath’s myth does something few origin stories attempt: it explains an everyday astronomical fact — the moon’s waxing and waning — as an act of divine mercy rather than mere physics. And the temple’s own history, rebuilt again and again after every destruction, mirrors the myth it houses: something that keeps waning under pressure, and keeps coming back.
Traditionally associated with the Shiva Purana and Skanda Purana; temple history per Archaeological Survey of India records