LORD KRISHNA'S DWARAKA

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently visited the pilgrimage town of Dwarka, in Gujarat’s Devbhoomi Dwarka district, where he inaugurated several infrastructural projects, including the Sudarshan Setu, India’s longest cable-stayed project connecting Okha town with the island of Beyt Dwarka.

During his visit, he also went scuba diving off the Panchkui beach coast and performed underwater prayers at the site believed to be Dwarka Nagari – the mythological kingdom of Lord Krishna in the Mahabharata.

2. Dwarka in Hindu Mythology

• Dwarka holds immense significance in Hindu culture, primarily due to its association with Lord Krishna and the Mahabharata. According to legend, after defeating his uncle Kamsa, Krishna migrated from Mathura to Dwarka with his Yadava clan.
• Here, he founded his kingdom by reclaiming 12 yojanas of land from the sea.
• References in the Vishnu Purana describe Dwarka as a city adorned with beautiful gardens, moats, ponds, and palaces.
• However, the town is believed to have been submerged under the sea after the demise of Lord Krishna.

3. Locating Dwarka

• Present-day Dwarka, a coastal town at the mouth of the Gulf of Kutch, is a vital part of the Krishna pilgrimage circuit, along with Vrindavan, Mathura, Govardhan, Kurukshetra, and Puri. Dwarka is renowned for the 13th-century Dwarkadheesh temple dedicated to Lord Krishna. Other sites along the Saurashtra coast, like Bet Dwarka and Mul Dwarka, also feature in legends related to Lord Krishna.
• Since the early 20th century, scholars have tried to pinpoint the exact location of 'Dwarka' as mentioned in the Mahabharata. Most rely on ancient literature and the works of other scholars.
• The question remains: Is present-day Dwarka the same as the one described in ancient texts, a town that may now lie submerged under the sea? Or is it a mythological town whose historical authenticity may never be conclusively established?
• Alok Tripathi, Additional Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), in his paper 'Excavations at Dwarka-2007' (2013), mentioned F E Pargiter, a British civil servant and orientalist who suggested in 1904, in his translation of the Markandeya Purana, that Dwarka was located on the 'Raivataka', a mountain range mentioned in the Mahabharata. This mountain range is believed to be the present-day Girnar hills in Junagadh, around 200 km away from the current Dwarka town.
• Historian A S Altekar, who, in the 1920s, “discussed that modern Dwarka may not have been as old as 1200 BCE, but accepted that it had been submerged as mentioned in some ancient texts”.
• Scholar A D Pulsakar in his 1943 essay, ‘Historicity of Krishna’, suggested that present-day Dwarka is the same as the one mentioned in the Mahabharata. Similar thoughts were expressed by archaeologist H D Sankalia in the 1960s.

4. Archaeological Findings on Land

• In the 1960s, scholars shifted their focus from ancient literature to finding tangible evidence of Lord Krishna’s Dwarka. Initial excavations concentrated on the land around present-day Dwarka, but as speculation grew about a submerged city, later explorations ventured underwater.
• The first excavation near the Dwarkadheesh temple in 1963, conducted by the Deccan College in Pune and the Gujarat government’s Department of Archaeology, had to be limited due to the area's dense population. The findings suggested the site had been inhabited for 2,000 years, but didn't align with the legendary city. Nonetheless, these discoveries spurred further studies.
• In 1979, the ASI, led by archaeologist S R Rao, conducted a second round of excavations around the Dwarkadheesh Temple during area development. Although no official report was published, the ASI Director-General mentioned the discovery of remains of three earlier temples and Lustrous Red Ware pottery dating back to the mid-second millennium BCE.

5. The Underwater Search for Dwarka

• The discoveries on land sparked a surge of interest in Dwarka, leading to speculation about a submerged ancient settlement.
• For two decades, a dedicated team of marine archaeologists and scientists from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), a laboratory under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), embarked on an extensive underwater quest in the Arabian Sea to find the 'sunken' city.
• Marine archaeologists uncovered approximately "200 stone anchors, stone structures, stone sculptures, small pottery pieces, marble statues, iron anchors, and other metal objects."
• The importance of considering the entire region, including Bet Dwarka, Nageshwar, Pindara, and Gopi Talab, all within 30 kilometres of Dwarka. At Bet Dwarka, found evidence from the early historical period (6th century BCE to 6th century CE) and the late Harappan period (approximately 1900 to 1300 BCE). The stone anchors found underwater at Dwarka resembled those from the Late Harappan period at Bet Dwarka, suggesting they were from the same era. This period aligns with the Mahabharata.
• However, Alok Tripathi from the ASI noted in his paper that while the NIO's findings generated public interest, they lacked clarity.
• Between 2005 and 2007, the ASI's Underwater Archaeology Wing (UAW), led by Alok Tripathi, conducted another round of underwater excavations.
• These excavations revealed that the structural remains scattered on the seabed were not in situ but had been transported by waves and currents. Consequently, assigning a specific date to them was challenging.
• The search for Dwarka's ancient secrets continues.