74 SOMfI STIPUR
Somāstipur.-Subdivision and town in Darbhangā District, Bengal.
SCC SAMASTIPUR.
Someswari.-River in the Gāro Hills District, Eastern Bengal
and Assam. It rises to the north of Turā station, and flows east as far
as Darangiri. Here it turns south and debouchés on the plains of
Mymensingh, through which it makes its way to the Kāngsa river,
88 miles from its source. It is navigable up-stream as high as Siju,
where further progress is barred by rapids. Valuable outcrops of coal
and lime have been discovered in the Someswari valley, but owing to
difficulties of transport they still I'emain unworked. In its course
through the hills the river flows through gorges of great natural beauty,
where precipitous cliff's are clothed with dense tropical vegetation.
Somnāth (Deo Pattan, Prabhās Pattan, Verāval Pattan, or Pattan
Somnāth).-Ancient town in the State of Junāgarh, Kāthiāwār, Bombay,
situated in zo° 53' N. and qō z8' E., at the eastern extremity of
a bay on the south coast of the peninsula of Kāthiāwār. Population
(rgol), 8,341. The western headland of the bay is occupied by the
port of Verāval, which gives to the locality its more common name
of Verāval Pattan. On the edge of the sea, nearly half-way between
the two towns, stands a large and conspicuous temple, dedicated to Siva.
A few hundred yards behind this temple is the reservoir called the
Bhat Kund, the traditional scene of the death of Krishna. Farther
inland rises the wild hill district called the Gir, and in the remote
distance stands out the sacred mountain which the people of Kāthiāwār
delight to call the `royal Girnār.' 'The country near Somnāth is full
of memorials of Krishna, the principal centre of interest being a spot
to the east of the town, where, near the union of three beautiful
streams, the body of the hero is said to have been burnt.
Somnāth is a gloomy place-a city of graves and ruins. On the
west the plain is covered with Musalmān tombs, on the east are
numerous Hindu shrines and monuments. The town was protected
ort the south by a fort, and on the remaining three sides by a deep
trench cut out of the solid rock. The fort, situated on the shore
within a few feet of high-water mark, does not depart in any important
particular from the general design of Gujarāt fortresses. It is square
in form, with large gateways in the centre of each side, outworks or
barbicans in front of these, and second gateways in the sides of the
outworks. Somnāth is now especially famous for the manufacture
of door-locks made of wood and iron. It is the head-quarters of
a 1~aahdl or revenue division, with the courts of revenue and judicial
officers. Though some wealthy bankers and merchants reside here,
the moneyed classes have mostly betaken themselves to the neigh-
bouring port of Verāval.
Before its capture by Mahmūd of Ghazni (IOZ4-6), little is known
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