Srinagar: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Monday performed puja on Somnath Swabhiman Parv, a celebration of 1,000 years of unbroken faith and unyielding resolve.
Sinha also attended a public event organised on the sacred occasion at Lok Bhavan, an official press release said.
The LG said that despite countless atrocities and invasions by aggressors, Somnath has remained a guiding light ushering Bharat towards new horizons.
“From the consecration of the rebuilt Somnath on May 11, 1951, to this day, this centre of faith has ignited the deepest spirit in every Indian. I am confident that Somnath’s blessings will continue to inspire us to march forward with renewed resolve,” Sinha said.
He also said that the Somnath temple has always awakened new possibilities across the nation and laid the foundation of a new India.
“Somnath is a celebration of India’s rich spiritual and cultural heritage. Somnath embodies the divinity of our land.
“Somnath is an eternal prayer. Somnath is inseparable from our culture and its sanctity lives in every Indian heart,” he added.
The LG observed that Somnath is the very core of India’s eternal culture’s existence and its purity is intertwined with the soul of every Indian.
“Somnath is the divinity of India. Somnath is dedication. Somnath is devotion. Somnath is the thirst for truth. Somnath is the radiant light of luminous saints. Somnath is our pride. Somnath is our strength,” he said.
Sinha said that no other temple or sacred site was looted and destroyed 17 times, only to rise again each time in full splendour.
“The Somnath temple stands alone as the foremost example. Invaders and rulers from Mahmud Ghaznavi to Alauddin Khilji and Zafar Khan plundered and razed it time and again. Yet, despite repeated destruction, Somnath endured in our collective soul and was later rebuilt by countless great kings,” Sinha said.
The LG paid tributes to those “great souls” who not only preserved Somnath’s eternal sanctity but stood firm to defend the temple from invaders.
“I pay homage to Bhim Dev, Jayapal, Anandpal and Maharaja Dharsen. I also offer tribute to the Iron Man, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who, after India’s Independence, directed the temple’s reconstruction on November 12, 1947 and on May 11, 1951, then president of India Dr Rajendra Prasad performed the consecration ceremony,” the LG said.
Sinha said that the Somnath temple’s immortality teaches us to channelise the nation’s entire strength into creation, drawing inspiration from the past to make it the bedrock of life and building India’s golden future.
He said that the rebuilding of the Somnath temple is a symbol of inner victory for every person, a lamp of faith and resolve burning for millennia.
