Ahilyabai Holkar · Sanskrit Story
Somnath Rebuilt — Again
सोमनाथमन्दिरस्य पुनर्निर्माणम्
Somnath Temple Trust records; James Grant Duff — History of the Marathas (1826); Archaeological Survey Gujarat · Beginner Sanskrit
Moral · नीतिः
भक्तिः मन्दिरं पुनर्निर्माति।
Bhaktiḥ mandiraṃ punarnirmāti.
“Devotion rebuilds what destruction breaks.”
The Ruins of a Sacred Mountain
सोमनाथः — द्वादशज्योतिर्लिङ्गेषु प्रथमः। तस्य मन्दिरं बहुवारं ध्वस्तम् अभवत् — बहुवारं पुनर्निर्मितम् च। औरङ्गजेबेन अन्तिमवारं ध्वस्तम् — १७०६ तमे वर्षे। अहिल्या तं ध्वंसं दृष्ट्वा मनसि अचिन्तयत् — "शिवः यावद् अहं जीवामि, तावद् इदं मन्दिरं पुनः उत्थास्यति।"
Somnath — the first among the twelve jyotirlingas (ज्योतिर्लिङ्ग — divine light-forms of Shiva). Its temple had been destroyed many times — and rebuilt many times. It was last demolished by Aurangzeb — in the year 1706. Ahilya saw the ruins and resolved — "As long as I live, Shiva shall see this temple rise again."
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