Verawal is a fishing
port in between Diu and Porbandar on the Saurashtra
coast is at a distance of 5 kms from the Somnath Temple.
This temple is one of the twelve 'Jyotirlingas of Shiva'.
The temple is believed to have appeared first in gold,
at the behest of the moon-god, next in silver, created
by the sun-god, a third time in wood at the command
of Krishna, and finally in stone, built by Bhimdeva,
the strongest of the five Pandava brothers form Mahabharata.
It contains one of the 12 sacred Shiva shrines known
as Jyotirlingas. Fortunate
surprisingly, temple
wealth came to the attention of the Mahmud of Ghazni,
who captured and plundered so many of western India's
cities (997 -1030); the temple was battered and pillaged,
and its riches taken to Afghanistan.
The present temple
was commissioned by Sardar Patel in the 1950s. The temple
is impressive, the aura of devotion even more awesome,
but the high point is it's location by the blue waters
of the Arabian sea. The beach of Somnath is unshaded
but lovely, the views are just stupendous. The most
spectacular sight of Veraval is the fishing port, where
thousands of trawlers, country crafts and dhows can
be seen unloading their catch. The most famous excursion
from here is ofcourse Sasan, the headquarters of the
1412 sq km Gir national par
park & wildlife sanctuary, one of the
most important wildlife preserves in India.