Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarat c19.s2.t1.103
Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarát c19.s2.t1.103
- Language
- English
c19.s2.t1.103.1
Somnath. Al Bírúni (A.D. 970-1031) is the first of the Arab writers to notice Somnath. He calls Somnáth and Kachh the capital of the Bawárij pirates who commit their depredations in boats called baira.⁹ He places Somnáth (14 farsakhs) fifty-six miles from Debal or Karáchi 200 miles (50 farsakhs) from Anhilwára and 180 miles (60 yojanas) from Broach. He notes that the river Sarsút falls into the sea an arrow-shot from the town. He speaks of Somnáth as an important place of Hindu worship and as a centre of pilgrimage from all parts of India. He tells of votaries and pilgrims performing the last stage of their journey crawling on their sides or on their ankles, never touching the sacred ground with the soles of their feet, even progressing on their heads.¹⁰ Al Bírúni gives¹¹ the legendary origin of the Somnath idol: how the moon loved the daughters of Prajápati; how his surpassing love for one of them the fair Rohini kindled the jealousy of her slighted sisters; how their angry sire punished the partiality of the moon by pronouncing a curse which caused the pallor of leprosy to overspread his face; how the penitent moon sued for forgiveness to the saint and how the saint unable to recall his curse showed him the way of salvation by the worship of the Lingam;
c19.s2.t1.103.2
how he set up and called the Moon-Lord a stone which¹² for ages had lain on the sea shore less than three miles to the west of the mouth of the Sarasvati, and to the east of the site of the golden castle of Bárwi (Veraval) the residence of Básúdeo and near the scene of his death and of the destruction of his people the Yádavas. The waxing and the waning of the moon caused the flood that hid the Lingam and the ebb that showed it and proved that the Moon was its servant who bathed it regularly. Al Bírúni notices¹³ that in his time the castellated walls and other fortifications round the temple were not more than a hundred years old. Al Bírúni represents the upper part of the Lingam as hung with massive and bejewelled gold chains. These chains together with the upper half of the idol were, he observes, carried away by the Emir Mahmúd to Ghazna, where a part of the idol was used to form one of the steps of the Assembly Mosque and the other part was left to lie with Chakra Swám, the Thánesar idol, in the maidan or hippodrome of Mahmúd's capital. Somnáth, says Al Bírúni,^4 was the greatest of the Lingams worshipped in India where in the countries to the south-west of Sindh the worship of these emblems abounds. A jar of Ganges water and a basket of Kashmir flowers were brought daily to Somnáth.
c19.s2.t1.103.3
Its worshippers believed the stone to possess the power of curing all diseases, and the mariners and the wanderers over the deep between Sofála and China addressed their prayers to it as their patron deity.^5 Ibn Asír (A.D. 1121) gives a detailed account of the temple of Somnáth and its ancient grandeur. He says Somnáth was the greatest of all the idols of Hind. Pilgrims by the hundred thousand met at the temple especially at the times of eclipses and believed that the ebb and flow of the tide was the homage paid by the sea to the god. Everything of the most precious was brought to Somnáth and the temple was endowed with more than 10,000 villages. Jewels of incalculable value were stored in the temple and to wash the idol water from the sacred stream of the Ganga was brought every day over a distance of two hundred farsangs (1200 miles). A thousand Brahmans were on duty every day in the temple, three hundred and fifty singers and dancers performed before the image, and three hundred barbers shaved the pilgrims who intended to pay their devotions at the shrine. Every one of these servants had a settled allowance. The temple of Somnáth was built upon fifty pillars of teakwood covered with lead. The idol, which did not appear to be sculptured,^6 stood three cubits out of the ground and had a girth of three cubits. The idol was by itself in a dark chamber lighted by most exquisitely jewelled chandeliers.
c19.s2.t1.103.4
Near the idol was a chain of gold to which bells were hung weighing 200 mans. The chain was shaken at certain intervals during the night that the bells might rouse fresh parties of worshipping Brahmans. The treasury containing many gold and silver idols, with doors hung with curtains set with valuable jewels, was near the chamber of the idol. The worth of what was found in the temple exceeded two millions of dínárs (Rs. 1,00,00,000). According to Ibn Asír Mahmúd reached Somnáth on a Thursday in the middle of Zilkaida II, 414 (A.D. December 1023). On the approach of Mahmúd Bhím the ruler of Anhilvád fled abandoning his capital and took refuge in a fort to prepare for war. From Anhilvád Mahmúd started for Somnáth taking several forts with images which, Ibn Asír says, were the heralds or chamberlains of Somnáth. Resuming his march he crossed a desert with little water. Here he was encountered by an army of 20,000 fighting men under chiefs who had determined not to submit to the invader. These forces were defeated and put to flight by a detachment sent against them by Mahmúd. Mahmúd himself marched to Dalálwárah a place said by Ibni Asir to be two days journey from Somnáth. When he reached Somnáth Mahmúd beheld a strong fortress whose base was washed by the waves of the sea. The assault began on the next day Friday. During nearly two days of hard fighting the invaders seemed doomed to defeat. On the third the Musalmáns drove the Hindus from the town to the temple.
c19.s2.t1.103.5
A terrible carnage took place at the temple-gate. Those of the defenders that survived took themselves to the sea in boats but were overtaken and some slain and the rest drowned.¹