The
age of the idol on this computation would be 30,000 years. This belief, a gross
exaggeration, certainly points to its antiquity. Firishta, while refusing to accept the
identification of Somanatha with the Manat of Mecca, quotes the local Brahminical
tradition which says that the former "stood near the harbour of Diu since the time of
Krishna who disappeared at that spot 4,000 years ago."5 But Al-Biruni observes that the fortress wherein the idol of Somanatha and its
treasures were lodged was not ancient, but was only 100 years old at his time.6 The
fortress then could be traced to the Chalukyas of Saurashtra.
5. Tarikh-i-Firishta, Persian text (Nawal Kishor
edition), p. 32. |