Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Gujarat today (May 11) to mark 75 years of the inauguration of the restored Somnath temple. Modi posted on social media, “…while the attackers have faded into the dust of history, the soul of Bharat endures. Somnath stands tall and eternal.” Located in Prabhas Patan , Veraval, Somnath is an important Hindu pilgrimage site. According to the temple’s website, it is “the holy place of the First Aadi Jyotirling Shree Somnath Mahadev and the sacred soil where Lord Shri Krishna took his last journey…” By most historical accounts, the temple faced several attacks from raiders, with the most damaging by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1026 CE. This history of Somnath has often been used to divide Hindus and Muslims. The British attempted this as far back as 1842, when a British official claimed to have “avenged the insult of Hindus” by bringing back the “sandalwood gates of Somnauth” from Afghanistan. The gates later turned out to be neither of Somnath nor of sandalwood.…