The great Shaiva temple of the Kathiawar coast, said to have been sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1025 to 1026 and rebuilt by Kumarapala of Gujarat in 1169 (recalled; Wikipedia's page summarises the sack and the rebuilding).
It holds land and dues, draws the pilgrims who feed the harbour of Veraval, and has its own corps of priests; the Pashupata ascetics who served it in the previous century (Bhava Brihaspati, recalled) are the model of a religious house that is also a power. The shrine is a Chaulukya patronage, which means the king's government and the temple's lands overlap.
Who holds it
- Name
- the temple's acharya and the Brahmin trustees (not named)
- Title
- Head or custodian
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
No source we reached names the custodians of 1200.
Overlord
Bhima II, patron
What it holds
- The temple's lands, the pilgrim dues and the Veraval harbour tolls (share not known)
How things stand that morning
A rich temple under a Chaulukya patron. The Ghurids have never come this far south in the sources we reached.
Wealth
Pilgrim dues; harbour tolls; land grants.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1264 (later, recalled)An inscription at Veraval records a mosque for a Hormuz shipowner in the Vaghela periodDepends on: Sea trade continuing Stopped by: A change in the harbour's rulers
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Wikipedia's Somnath page, summarised, and memory.
On the map: A town-sized block; the temple's estates are not mapped.
Primary sources for Chaulukya Gujarat
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Crown of Glorious Deeds, Hasan Nizami (Sadr al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan Nizami of Nishapur) (begun about 1205 at Delhi, carried on to about 1217). The earliest history written in Muslim India and the only contemporary account of Qutb al-Din Aibak's campaigns. Read online
- The Nasirean Generations (a general history of the Muslim dynasties), Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (completed 1260 at Delhi). The fullest narrative of the Ghurid conquest of northern India. Read online
- The Nasirid Generations: a General History of the Muslim Dynasties, Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (1259 to 1260, at Delhi). The Ghurid court's own history, by a man born in 1193 whose family served the sultans of Ghur and Ghazna. Read online
- Epigraphia Indica: inscriptions of the Chandelas, Paramaras, Gahadavalas, Chaulukyas, Senas and Eastern Gangas, Various (edited for the Archaeological Survey of India by J. Burgess, E. Hultzsch, F. Kielhorn, Sten Konow, F. W. Thomas and successors) (inscriptions of the 1180s to 1210s; the series ran from 1892). The main record series for the Hindu kingdoms of northern India around 1200. Read online
- Historical Inscriptions of Gujarat, Various (the Chaulukya and Vaghela chanceries), edited by G. V. Acharya (inscriptions of the 10th to 14th centuries; edited 1933 to 1942). The standard corpus of Gujarat's inscriptions. Read online
- A Description of the Foreign Peoples (Records of Foreign Nations), Zhao Rukuo (Zhao Rugua) (1225 at Quanzhou). The best single text for the island world around 1200, written by the superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou from merchants' reports a generation after the date. Read online
- The Book of Roger (the Pleasure of Him who Longs to Cross the Horizons), Muhammad al-Idrisi (completed 1154 at Palermo). The nearest Arabic geography in time to 1200 for the Indian Ocean. Read online
- The History of India as Told by its Own Historians: the Muhammadan Period, vol. 2, Various (Ibn al-Athir, Hasan Nizami, Awfi, Juzjani and others), edited by H. M. Elliot and John Dowson (the sources date from the 1190s to the 14th century; the collection was published in 1869). A one-volume anthology of the Arabic and Persian accounts of the Ghurid conquest. Read online
1 more in the sources library for Northern India.
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia, 'Somnath temple'
- Wikipedia, 'Chaulukya dynasty' (summarising Majumdar 1956 and Dasharatha Sharma, Early Chauhan Dynasties, 1959)
- OMNIA board notes for the place (a lead only; checked against the sources above)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.