Dazzling fireworks, a drone show and decorations bedazzled thousands of devotees at the Somnath temple complex in Gujarat on Saturday as religious chants filled the air.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived in the temple town on Saturday evening for a two-day visit, witnessed the mega drone show that featured several planned thematic formations, including huge images of Lord Shiva and a ‘shivling’, as well as a 3D depiction of the Somnath temple.
The show, which lasted nearly 15 minutes, also showcased the destruction faced by the historic temple in Gujarat’s Gir Somnath district over the past centuries. It was executed by BotLab, an IIT Delhi-incubated tech company, which earlier organised drone shows on various landmark occasions, including in Ayodhya in January 2024, when the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of the Ram temple was held.
The event, billed as one of the largest drone shows hosted in the proximity of a temple site in the country, also paid tribute to figures like Vallabhbhai Patel and Veer Hamirji Gohil by depicting their images in separate formations, besides that of Prime Minister Modi.
Veer Hamirji Gohil was a 16th-century Rajput warrior known for his sacrifice defending the Somnath temple against invaders.
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PM Modi is visiting the ancient shrine during the ‘Somnath Swabhiman Parv’ that marks 1,000 years since Mahmud of Ghazni invaded the Somnath temple, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said on Friday.
“Despite repeated attempts for its destruction, the Somnath temple stands today as a powerful symbol of resilience, faith and national pride, owing to the collective resolve and efforts to restore it to its ancient glory,” the PMO statement said.
It was after India attained independence in 1947 that efforts for the restoration of the temple were undertaken by Vallabhbhai Patel. A restored Somnath temple was formally opened to devotees in 1951 in the presence of the then-president of India, Rajendra Prasad.
The drone show is one of the outstanding tributes that form a part of the Somnath Swabhiman Parv, built as a “thematic aerial narrative”, combining spirituality, history and national identity through precision-controlled light formations to reflect Somnath’s journey across centuries, from cosmic origins to contemporary India, a BotLab team member said.
The image of Lord Shiva portrayed mid-air through a choreographed assembly of drones spanned about 280 metres, while the ‘shivaling’ spanned 330 metres, the lab said.
Other formations, each aligned with a specific historical or spiritual theme, included ‘Shiv Tandav: Depicting divine energy and balance’, as well as the text – ‘Akhand Somnath, Akhand Bharat’, representing civilisational continuity, the company representative said.
The town has been lit up for the occasion, with the main road leading to the temple, from the Shankh Circle to the Veer Hamirji Gohil Circle (which bears a statue of Gohil) decked up with hoardings, banners and posters. Many huge banners put up in the city bear the festival’s name and ‘Akhand Somnath, Akhand Bharat’ inscribed on them.
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