Priest claims possession of ancient Shivling fragments from Somnath Temple, seeks re-installation

A priest named Sitaram Shastry has claimed that he has been the custodian of broken fragments from the ancient Shivling of Gujarat's Somnath temple, which was demolished by Mahmud of Ghazni in the 11th century.

In a self-made video, Shastry, who comes from a lineage of saints, claimed that he has been preserving the pieces of the sacred Lingam for the last 21 years. He now wishes to have them consecrated at the Somnath Temple. For this purpose, he met spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who has voiced his support for this resolution.

A lineage of guardianship

Shastry explained, "I received these statues 21 years ago. Before this, my uncle had kept them. He gave them to me and ordered me to install at least two of them in the Somnath temple in Gujarat. This is the real statue of Somnath. It's been 1,000 years. My uncle ordered me to install it in Somnath Ji. It was given to my uncle by his guru, Pranavendra Saraswati Ji. After that, my uncle worshipped it for 60 years. This statue has come to me, him, and his guru through 'Guru-Pratha' only."

Historical significance and destruction

According to Shastry, "A thousand years ago, this Shiva Lingam, which was 3 feet tall and remained suspended 2 feet from the floor, defied gravity. There were multiple attacks by invaders to destroy this Shiva Lingam. The temple was looted too. Invader Mahmud of Ghazni killed almost 50,000 people to enter the Somnath temple. He looted all the precious items that adorned the temple and destroyed the Shiva Lingam."

Saints' efforts to preserve and restore

The priest said that soon after Mahmud of Ghazni destroyed the sacred Shivling, various saints collected the broken fragments, made several statues from them, and kept worshipping them for years. He added that the saints had consensually decided to reinstall them in the temple when the right time arrived.

Shastry stated, "After this incident, various saints came and collected the broken fragments, made several statues from them, and started worshipping them. They consensually decided that statues made from these fragmented pieces would be installed in the temple again when the right time arrived. From that time, these statues came to Guru Pranavendra Saraswati, my uncle, and me through 'Guru Pratha.' For the last 60 years, my uncle has been worshipping them. Before taking Samadhi, he called me, gave me these statues, and ordered me to install at least two of them in Somnath, Gujarat."

Support from spiritual leaders

Sitaram Shastry also shared that he met various saints regarding reinstalling the statues, including spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who assured him of support in his resolution.

"I recently took it to Shankaracharya Ji. I also took it to Dhirendra Saraswati Ji. He told me that once the work of Ram Mandir gets completed, they would initiate the process of installation of this Shivling, but he has now attained Samadhi.

"After that, I took these to Vijendra Saraswati Ji, and he was happy to see them. He told me to bring them to Guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Bengaluru and stated that he would help me install them. This statue has powers which I wasn't aware of," the priest said.

He added, "Guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has assured that it would be installed in the Somnath temple. I am happy. My birth would be successful. The real Somnath Shivling would be installed in the Somnath temple; this is our resolution."