A DESTROYER AND A RESTORER
BY 1675 1 Hindu India was ready to overthrow the intolerable rule of the fanatic Aurangzeb. The south had risen under Shivaji; so had the Sikh Gurus as also many Rajput chiefs in Rajasthan. In 1701, Prince Mohammad Azam, the 39th viceroy  of Gujarat, was ordered by Emperor Aurangzeb 'to destroy the temple of Somanatha beyond possibility of repairs.

This dispatch refers to a similar order issued at the beginning of Aurangzeb's reign. Evidently the earlier Firman of 1669 had not been carried out, or if carried out, had led to an immediate restoration of the temple.

In the meantime, the Hindu power in the south which Shivaji had founded was forcing its way into Gujarat, then ruled by the Moghul Emperors. As if it was a predestined coincidence, Aurangzeb's destruction of Somanatha in 1706 coincided with the rise of its avengers.

In 1705 Dhanaji Jadhava defeated the Muslim army at the battle of Ratanpur; 3 the hold of the Moghuls was broken and the Hindu power was knocking at the doors of Saurashtra. As soon as Aurangzeb silenced the temple-bells of Somanatha, the victorious shouts of 'Har Far Mahadeva' rent the skies of Saurashtra.

Damaji Gaikwad soon began to raid Saurashtra almost annually.4 The temple was no longer used as a mosque or as a shrine, for it was in ruins. Homage was paid to Somanatha in a small temple outside the town which attracted the pilgrims returning from Dwaraka.

Confusion prevailed in Gujarat. Several Hindu chiefs were up in arms against Delhi. The Marathas continued to raid Gujarat, exacting tribute from the Muslim chiefs, and soon became the masters in Gujarat. By 1738 the Maratha incursions into Saurashtra increased. Sher Khan Babi was, at the time, the deputy governor of the Moghul Emperors at Junagadh.

The fortunes of war fluctuated between the viceroys of the Moghul Emperor and the Maratha chiefs. Ultimately in 1753 Ahmedabad was taken by the Marathas, to be recaptured by the viceroys in 1756,  and to be lost to the Marathas again in 1759.5 By 1759 the Hindu conquerors had obtained a complete hold over Saurashtra. In the meantime, the East India Company, which had be come a great political power, stepped in to restore order in Saurashtra.

In A.D. 1783, Queen Ahalya Bai of Indore, finding the old ruins unfit for installing the deity, built a new temple at a little distance from the old temple.

To save it from destruction, the Linga was placed, in a secret underground shrine immediately below the usual upper one.

The suzerainty of Saurashtra passed into the hands of the Gaekwad of Baroda in about A.D. 1800.

In 1811, Hamid Khan, the Nawab of Junagadh, died and the right of succession to the Gadi of that State was settled by the Gaekwads in favour of Bahadur Khan, but the right to control and manage the new shrine of Somanatha was vested in the Gaekwad.

In view of the attitude of the Nawabs towards the shrine, it was stipulated that no insult should be offered to Hindu religion in Prabhasa Patan, that no taxes should be   levied on the Hindu pilgrims, that 2,000 koris should be paid annually by Junagadh for the support of the clerk and to meet the expenses of the temple.

The settlement known as Kalambandi was arrived at in 1813. Things went on smoothly till 1820. In that year, however, the sovereignty over Kathiawar was transferred to the British who began to allow the Nawabs of Junagadh to impose restrictions on pilgrims to the shrine.

In 1830, the Nawab of Junagadh levied a tax called 'Chille', a wheel-tax on every cart engaged by pilgrims. The Government of Baroda objected to this levy and the money was refunded to the persons concerned. In 1838, 1941 and 1865, fresh attempts were made to levy taxes, but they all ended in failure. In 1873, Junagadh State again tried to levy the tax 'Chille' on the ground that it was for the maintenance of roads and the protection of the pilgrims through Girnar, but the claim was rejected by the Political Agent, Kathiawar.

A fresh application was submitted by Junagadh and the Political Agent up held the latter's view that the tax, though in reality a tax on pilgrims, was not abolished by the Kalambandi of 1813.

Junagadh also levied fees for bathing in the sacred Kund. The dispute was placed before the Governor General who sided with the Nawab of Junagadh and curtailed the power of the Gaekwads.6

The Baroda Government made representation to the Government of India to reconsider their decision, but the Governor-General-in-Council saw no reason to modify it and informed Baroda that he could not admit of any claim on the part of the Gaekwad to make representations to the British Government on behalf of the Hindu subjects of Junagadh.

The Baroda Government then preferred two separate memorials to the Secretary of State for India in regard to Prabhasa Patan and Prachi Kund, but they were also rejected.7

The Hindus of Prabhasa dared not protest against these interferences, and Baroda was technically held not entitled to speak in defence of the shrine which they had the right to manage. Baroda, however, was conceded the right to control and manage the temples.

The conduct of the pujari of the temple was a subject of complaint on more than one occasion. Once he was found to take extra fees from worshippers.

He was taken to Kodinar as a prisoner and was released only after he had given a written promise that he 'Would act according to the orders of the Baroda Government.

Junagadh protested against the action of the Baroda authorities and maintained that Baroda had no right to dismiss or punish the pujari. On another occasion, the pujari stopped the worship altogether. The matter was placed before Junagadh authorities but they said that the Agent of the Baroda ' Government should file a complaint in a Junagadh court and obtain redress. Later, the Political Agent settled the matter amicably.