Kathlal · IN

Somnath Mahadev

Somnath Mahadev is a Shiva temple on the highway just outside Kathlal in central Gujarat, set where a river and a lake open onto a wide, calm landscape. The name evokes Shiva in his aspect as Somnath, "lord of the moon" — the same dedication as the great coastal jyotirlinga hundreds of kilometres away — but this is its own quiet, local place of worship, built in the riverine plain of Kathlal taluka rather than by the sea. What makes it special is the setting as much as the shrine: in front of the temple is a kund, a cistern fed by both hot and cold spring water, beside a lake where the river flows through the countryside, giving a serene darshan of nature around the Mahadev. Well-kept, easy to reach from the road, and open from early morning until late at night, it draws families and pilgrims who stop to pray on the route between Ahmedabad, Nadiad and Zalod.