PM Modi in Somnath: ‘A symbol of our civilisational courage’

There were those who visited Gujarat’s Somnath Temple on Saturday to get darshan of the Jyotirling and those who were there for the much-anticipated programme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but all of them, regardless of whether they managed to pray to the deity, paused to appreciate the music that turned intermingled devotion and dance, amid chants of “Har Har Mahadev.”

While the high security of the PM’s convoy may have delayed the uploading of posts online, it did not dampen the enthusiastic atmosphere in Prabhas Patan where people, standing cramped shoulder-to-shoulder, still managed to have a good time.

PM Modi landed in Rajkot and then headed to Somnath, flying into Keshod airport and participated in a road show before he joined the Somnath Swabhiman Parv beginning with offering of prayers at the temple and the 72-hour chanting of ‘Om’.

The Somnath Swabhiman Parv is being organised from January 8-11 as a commemoration marking 1,000 years since the first recorded attack on the Temple which has the first of the 12 jyotirlingas, in January 1026.

In a post on X on Saturday evening, PM Modi said in a post in Hindi, “Feeling blessed to be in Somnath, a proud symbol of our civilisational courage. This visit comes during #SomnathSwabhimanParv, when the entire nation has come together to mark a thousand years since the first attack on the Somnath Temple in 1026. Grateful to the people for the warm welcome.”

Vikas and Sugandha Sharma, who are on a pilgrimage from Karnal, Haryana, and not for the programme, were pleasantly surprised to be caught in its midst. However, they were lucky as they managed to complete their darshan at 6 pm, two hours before the PM’s convoy arrived.

The programme began at the Shankh (shell) circle, from where it’s a kilometre-long route to the temple, with stages set up and performances were organised. In between, strategic selfie points, swastikas, trishuls and shivlings dotted the illuminated path to the temple, along which a baritone voice chanted shlokas.

At the central plaza is a massive statue of Lord Shiva in the Adi yogi form, which is the confluence of people coming in and going out of the premises and a sought-after point for photographs. With children climbing atop the base of the bust with elated parents clicking their pictures, asking them to clasp their hands in prayer.

One side of the lane leading up from the main road to the temple, the row is lined by residential premises.

Around 7:36 pm, a wave of people ran towards the gates of the main complex of the temple, as the gates, pushed open solely by the push of the crowd, began to close at the behest of the uniformed police personnel deployed here. As people manage to move from the gates, others still hope to get a glimpse of the PM.

People rush, mothers hold their children and lathi-bearing police personnel cordoned people into the sides of the plaza, leaving the middle vacant for VVIP movement.

The real security apparatus was even more evident from here, with queued fences and people daring to remove their footwear to go further into the complex even as the temple itself is more than 100 metres away.

There was an X-ray bag checking van as well as CCTVs to keep an eye on crowd movement. Local residents Bhavesh and Rashmi Vaja, who live just 2 km away from the temple in Prabhas Patan, arrived to witness the programme with their 7-year-old son, Renil. Bhavesh said such a major programme had not taken place in Somnath in the past and that in spite of the minor security-related inconveniences, he was “happy that this happened in my city.”

People scrambled to get a glimpse of PM Modi as he arrived minutes after 8 pm.

At 8:30 pm, a drone show started next to the temple. Swiftly. all eyes were on the sky and people raised their hands and chanted ‘Har Har Mahadev’ as Lord Shiva was depicted in his dancing pose.

The drone show also went on to form the figures of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Ahilyabai and PM Modi, apart from a twinkling mural depicting attacks on the Somnath Temple in the past. A firecracker show followed.

All along, music played a key part. With strobe lights, people were seen jumping and dancing, hands raised to the Mahadev trance. On one side of the stage, a total of 17 college boys dressed as Shiva and Shivgan from Bhavnagar, danced their hearts out in costumes they had purchased just a day ago.

At the food counter were three male friends along with five kids, who had arrived from Sutrapada, around 20 km away. 39-year-old government teacher Hitesh Barad brought his daughter and nephew while contractor Sanjay Zala brought two of his children and a nephew.

For Keval Buch (21), an IT engineering student in Anand, and his mother Shital, residents of Veraval, praying at the Somnath Temple is not new. Keval, who is back home for vacations, said he was happy to have accompanied his mother to the programme and to witness such a “massive crowd for the first time.”