The world famous temple of Somnath was located in the Kathiawar region of Gujarat. It is believed that this temple is even before the birth of Christ. This temple was broken many times by Muslim invaders from Sindh and Arabia. It was rebuilt for the third time in the eighth century by Nagabhatta. Mahmud Ghaznavi attacked India 17 times to plunder the wealth of this temple. He destroyed the Shivling of the temple by killing fifty thousand people who were worshiping in this temple.
Mahmud Ghaznavi took the pieces of Shivling tied to the feet of an elephant and carried them to Ghazni and then got them laid on the roads leading from the palaces of Ghazni to the mosques. Mahmud Ghaznavi had got huge wealth from this temple, which he carried on elephants, camels and bullock carts to Ghazni. He also caused a lot of damage to the building of this temple. The kings of Gujarat and Malwa got it rebuilt. Aurangzeb again got it demolished in AD 1706. Since then it stood in ruins.
As soon as India gained independence, on 13 November 1947, Patel resolved to rebuild the fractal temple of Somnath. Pandit Nehru strongly opposed the reconstruction of the Somnath temple, but Patel and Munshi were determined. The old ruins were removed in October 1950. Patel died on 15 December 1950, before the foundation stone of the temple could be laid. In May 1951, the then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad asked Union Minister K. The foundation stone of this temple was laid on the invitation of M. Munshi.