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| Somnath at Night |
Somnath is about 235 km away from Jamnagar and 79 km from Junagadh. It is the legendary shore temple and one of the twelve jyotirlingas. According to legends Somnath is as old as creation. Built by Moon God Soma himself. Through the turbulent centuries Somnath Temple was sacked 7 times and seven times it was rebuilt. Mehmud of Ghazni having heard of it's fabulous treasures raided it and carried away camels loaded with jewels and gold. The present temple known as the Maha Meru Prasad was rebuilt on the exact location of the original shrine in accordance with the ancient plans. A fair is held in the kartik Purnima.
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| Picture taken from the screen outside the temple |
Notes:
Somnath Temple Darshan Timing: Morning 6 till night 9pm
Aarti Time : 7 am, 12 noon and 7pm. Please do not miss the beautiful aarti.
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| Sagar Darshan Hotel |
There are state transport available but I would recommend people to travel by Train. It is very much comfortable to travel by train than in bus. Our train was from Jamnagar Okha Somnath Express at 10.30 pm. The schedule time to reach Somnath was around 5 in the morning. We decided not to miss the morning aarti.
Upon reaching the Somnath station , which is very small, we took an auto. The auto charges around 50 Rs from Station to Mandir and another 50 for taking us to the Somnath Trustee hotel Sagar Darshan. That 50 rs the autowala charged was a sheer robbery.The hotel was right behind the temple.
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| Way to the Hotel |
Note :You need to book this hotel online 7 days prior to your trip . Its 2000 Rs per night. They deposit an amount of 500 Rs which is refundable when checking out.We had to pay in cash :( in the midst of note ban crisis.) *** Because we checked in the morning and all card swiping was available after 9am. (ridiculous terms).
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| The balcony View. ( all the balcony of this hotel is facing the sea) |
The hotel was located right near the sea shore. All the rooms faced the sea. It was extremely beautiful. The room was spacious and the balcony was too comfortable. One could see the mandir from the balcony itself.
Watch Somnath Aarti Online
Do not carry any handbag camera or anything to the mandir. Don't waste time leave everything in the hotel.
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| Market area |
The temple premises was neat and clean. The Arabian sea looked beautiful. You are not allowed to take camera inside and therefore I took few pictures from outside. There are many seating arrangements made for elderly people to see the aarti in a big screen outside the temple. It gets too crowded and suffocating at times.
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| Adi Mandir |
After the aarti we visited the adi mandir. It was not so crowded. The entire day was spent roaming around here and there.
There were market area selling various puja items, toral (door decorating items) etc.
Our lunch was done in the hotel itself Gujarati Thali.
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| Evening Sunset |
Without strolling around in the sun we decided to take rest in the afternoon and enjoy evening aarti and sunset.
Light and sound show was cancelled due to renovation. Timings for the show 8pm-9pm ( A must watch)
Dont forget to buy Chiki prasad from the temple premises. Also you can offer puja to the Lord.
By 8.30 pm we had our dinner and headed towards the railway station. A very successful Somnath Darshan,
For Further information:
Shree Somnath Trust
Website: Somnath.org
Phone: 02876-231231/231200
You can also check into Lilavati Atithi Bhavan -A/C.Non A/C rooms .
Tirtha Darshan Tourist coach are available 3 times a day. (talk to the trust)
Image rights reserved.Permission required for usage.
