One among the seven holy pilgrimage centers in India that have its own story to tell. Not just on religious grounds but rather on the historical and archaeological aspects as well the city of Dwarka has its importance.
According to holy Indian mythology the site where the Gomati River meets the mighty Arabian Sea, there existed a kingdom that was graced by Lord Krishna.
The kingdom stood in the land of the modern-day holy city of Dwarka, which Murli Thakar a priest from the Dwarkadish Temple says, “The Lord Shri Krishna kingdom was stretched in the area of around 842 KM and was completely fortified.” He went on to say that “Lord Krishna stayed there for over 100 years.”
Narayanad Brahmacharya the priest who oversees Dwarkadish Temple added further to this belief that “Lord Shri Krishna died after embracing the earth for over 100 years and upon his death, the ancient city was sunken beneath the Arabian Sea.
But a question that must ponder one is if that kingdom ever existed where is it now? What happened to it?
The notion of a kingdom built by Lord Krishna is not just restricted to holy texts, in Mahabharata or among the talks of the priests of the temple.
Rather the designated surveys over the due course of time have given consolidative evidence to the fact of a city within the city of Dwarka (which the people associated with religiousness linked to Lord Krishna) can’t be ruled out.
Dr. Alok Tripathi, ADG, Archaeological Survey of India and himself an underwater archaeologist, narrated the story of his experience in the city of excavation and research to find the evidence and said, “Dwarka is the only city contemporary to the events mentioned in Mahabharata.”
In the second half of the last century, archaeologists made attempts to find physical evidence of the sunken city off the coast of modern-day Dwarka so they can prove its existence beyond doubt.
As a result, many artefacts have been discovered underwater such as stone blocks and pillars; however, the exact age of these findings is still being debated. Now, archaeologists are planning an underwater dig to look for.
One of the early attempts to find how strong the claims or the possibility of a city must have existed there, Deccan College in Pune conducted one such research in the 60s. This was later followed by another survey in 1979 by the Archaeological Survey of India.
Years later under the direction of Dr. Alok Tripathi, a detailed survey was conducted on Dwarka in 2007, which led to the conclusion of several elements of relevance associated with thousands of years were found underwater besides a pattern of vegetation in the excavated spots.
This development prompted scientists such as Dr. Rajiv Nigam from CSIR-NIO (National Institute of Oceanography) to conduct a detailed analysis of the sea currents, through which they found a detailed pattern in the variation of current over the period of time since the sea level started rising towards the shore and finally sunk the entire mythological kingdom of Lord Krishna.
Several priests while talking to the media was of the view that this event started to unfold only after the death of Lord Krishna.
Today the importance, beauty, and value of Dwarka haven’t diminished thousands of people still pay visits to one of the great holy centers every single day. Its renovation and depiction of the past have made it a place of global importance and attracted tourists from all over the world.
The special occasion is marked on Janmashtami every year. The temple and city celebrate the occasion as their own event and glorify it with the blessings of Lord Krishna upon mankind.
India is celebrating this year’s Janmashtami two days from now the preparation is up and high to mark Lord Krishna’s might for another year with the human race.