Sanskrit · name · Faith & Sacred History
Somnaat
सोमनात
said som-NAAT
also written: Somnath, Somanat
Meaning
The famed Hindu temple of Shiva in Gujarat, used in Persian-Urdu poetry as the archetypal great idol-temple.
Usage & notes
In the Indo-Persian tradition Iqbal inherits, Somnaat stands as the towering idol-temple, the symbol against which the iconoclast's faith defines itself. It evokes the perennial contest between monotheism and idolatry.
Related words
PERSIAN
Butkhaana
An idol-temple; in mystic verse the shrine of beauty where the lover worships the beloved's form.
PERSIAN
But
Idol; a figure of the beloved so beautiful as to be worshipped, and a symbol of beauty in the ghazal.
ARABIC
Laat-o-Manaat
Al-Lat and Manat, two pre-Islamic Arabian goddesses worshipped as idols at the dawn of Islam.