| Temples & Legends Of Somanatha |
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| Temples & Legends Of India |
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MUSLIM CHRONICLES ON SOMANATHA |
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Several
Muslim chronicles expressed the view that Somanatha had a human form. Most European
writers owe their information to them and adopt the same view. They authoritatively quote
the fictitious story of the Brahmins' sumptuous offer of ransom to Mahmud to spare the
idol and of his iconoclastic zeal in refusing the same and breaking, with his mace, first
the nose and then the belly of the idol which yielded precious stones worth many times the
amount of the Brahmins' offer of ransom. None of the contemporary and early
non-contemporary writers, such as Al-Biruni, Farrukhi, Gardizi, Ibnu'l-Jauzi, Ibnu'l-Athir
says that it had a human figure or that it was suspended in the air without being attached
to anything.15
15. See Watson's article on Shaikh Din's ballad
published in the Indian Antiquary, Vol. VIII, for 1879, p. 160. |
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