The Solanki kings of Anahilapura being Saivites held the god Somanátha of Prabhása in great veneration. The very ancient and holy shrine of Prabhása has long been a place of special pilgrimage. As early as the Yádavas of Dwárká, [538] pilgrimages to Prabhása are recorded but the Mahábhárata makes no mention either of Somanátha or of any other Saivite shrine. The shrine of Somanátha was probably not established before the time of the Valabhis (A.D. 480-767). As the Valabhi kings were most open-handed in religious gifts, it was probably through their grants that the Somanátha temple rose to importance. The Solankis were not behind the Valabhis in devotion to Somanátha. To save pilgrims from oppression Múlarája fought Graharipu the Ábhíra king of Sorath. [539] Múlarája afterwards went to Prabhása and also built temples in Gujarát in honour of the god Somanátha. As Múlarája's successors Chámunda and Durlabha continued firm devotees of Somanátha during their reigns (A.D. 997-1022) the wealth of the temple must have greatly increased. [Mahmúd's Invasion, A.D. 1024.] No Gujarát Hindu writer refers to the destruction of the great temple soon after Bhíma's accession. [540] But the Musalmán historians place beyond doubt that in A.D. 1024 the famous tenth raid of [Somanátha, A.D. 1024.] Mahmúd of Ghazni, ended in the destruction and plunder of Somanátha. [541] Of the destruction of Somanátha the earliest Musalmán account, of Ibn Asír (A.D. 1160-1229), supplies the following details: In the year A.D. 1024 (H. 414) Mahmúd captured several forts and cities in Hind and he also took the idol called Somanátha. This idol was the greatest of all the idols of Hind. At every eclipse [542] the Hindus went on pilgrimage to the temple, and there congregated to the number of a hundred thousand persons. According to their doctrine of transmigration the Hindus believe that after separation from the body the souls of men meet at Somanátha; and that the ebb and flow of the tide is the worship paid to the best of its power by the sea to the idol. [543] All that is most precious in India was brought to Somanátha. The temple attendants received the most valuable presents, and the temple was endowed with more than 10,000 villages. [544] In the temple were amassed jewels of the most exquisite quality and of incalculable value. The people of India have a great river called Ganga to which they pay the highest honour and into which they cast the bones of their great men, in the belief that the deceased will thus secure an entrance to heaven. Though between this river and Somanátha is a distance of about 1200 miles (200 parasangs) water was daily brought from it to wash the idol. [545] Every day a thousand Bráhmans performed the worship and introduced visitors. [546] The shaving of the heads and beards of pilgrims employed three hundred barbers. [547] Three hundred and fifty persons sang and danced at the gate of the temple, [548] every one receiving a settled daily allowance.