Pilgrims are advised to enter by ‘Swarg Dwar’ and leave by ‘Moksha dwar’. Located in an 1800 sq. m. area, the five storied temple stands on 60 stone pillars. I saw the steps going up to the top of the temple where the flag is changed thrice a day. The shikhar rises 170 feet and on the west side of the temple is the seat of Adi Shankaracharya, who visited the temple in 7th century.
Inside, the hereditary priests wearing bright silk jumpers and yellow dhotis had their own story to tell. They claimed that the Jagat Mandir, the sanctum sanctorum. is 2,500 years old. Darshan was quick as we joined the short queue; some devotee had paid for a Raj Bhog that day so that there was a lavish spread of prasad, too.
History
Since we could not get accommodation for the night in Dwaraka we had to go to Mithapur, 27 km away for our lodgings in a company guest house. As arranged, the Navy commander in charge of Dwarka, Ashok Rai and two colleagues arrived and told that our undersea darshan of the other Dwarka would begin at 10 am.
Of course, I had boned up on the Dwarka excavations before this trip so let me give you the benefit of prior knowledge! The digital repository service of the National Institute of Oceanography says that the search for the lost city had been going on from the 1930s. The Marine Archeology unit of the NIO joined the research in 1983. Explorations between 1983 and 1990 revealed the well-fortified township of Dwarka, extending more than half a mile from the shore.
The township was built in six sectors along the banks of the Gomti River. The foundation of boulders proves that the land was reclaimed and used. Dwarka was up to Bet Dwarka in the north and Okahmadhi in the southeast, extending up to Pindara. The general description of Dwarka mentioned in the ancient text agrees with the coordinates of the submerged city.
Dr. SR Rao, the renowned archeologist and scholar, had two path-breaking excavations to his credit when he led the team in 1983. In a newspaper interview he’d said, “I had to demolish a modern building in front of the temple and I found the 9th century temple of Vishnu. We dug further and actually found eroded material of a township lying at the bottom. Then arose the question of dating. Thermo luminescence revealed a date of 1520 BC. The Mahabharata refers to Dwarka and this is how we thought of marine archeology.”
An excavation was undertaken in 2002 at Bet Dwarka Island to get cultural sequences of the island and they revealed the remains of the Late Harappan period near Balapur village. Other remains of the historical period were also noticed in the island. Pot shards, including carnated dishes, bowls and jars were recovered, adding further credence to the place’s antiquity.
While Dr. Tripathi of the ASI is supervising the offshore, on shore and underwater excavations, Commander Ashok Rai is in charge of the Navy command in Dwarka. As it was the day after poornima, the tide was carefully studied before we took the plunge, so to speak!
Dr. Tripathi was naturally rather cautious about what they have found so far, to steer clear of arousing any controversy. But Dr. Tripathi did add simply, “Krishna is my God. I have faith and he will be my God, whichever century he belonged to.” Commander Rai made it clear that the Navy was only assisting the ASI. Vasumathi, who is a geographer, earnestly engaged Dr. Tripathi in technical detail throughout.
Dr. Tripathi, who had been part of Rao’s team, spoke of excavations in a small area measuring 5 ft X 5 ft opposite the Dwarkadeesh temple in January, the only open site near the temple. The dig was slow and careful and further excavations were planned along the Gomti ghat and the sea shore. He added that the findings of the excavations would first be revealed in an international conference in September. The underwater excavations also began in January and the first phase was almost completed.
We were naturally excited when we were given bright yellow life jackets before getting into the boat at Gomti ghat. The divers explained the safety drill in case the boat capsized (!) and we also signed papers to say that no one was responsible if something happened to us during the ride!
The anchored launch for the expedition could be seen from the Gomti Ghat. The site was about 500 m. from the shore, and at a depth of 3 m. to 15 m., it was a time consuming exercise and results would decide how much time would be required for consecutive research. We could also see the earmarked site from the shore with bright yellow markings.
On board, the divers showed us their equipment and explained about their advanced techniques of underwater experiments as we headed for the earmarked site. To peep underwater, they had improvised a bucket with glass in the middle through which we could peer down, but we could also make out the structures below anyway.
Dr. Tripathi also dived into the water as we cruised around for a few minutes in the scorching sun with the temple as the backdrop. Around noon we headed back to the shore while Dr Tripathi bid goodby from underwater. All in a day’s work for him - and a day’s sightseeing for us!
It was time to head for Toran, a simple but clean Gujarat Tourism guest house near Dwarka temple which would be our place of stay for the next two days. After dumping our luggage and freshening up, we headed back to the temple. Every time I saw the temple shikhar, I was awestruck by its beauty. A group of Rabaris wearing striking black Kutchi shawls and dhotis waiting for darshan caught my eye, their monochrome a stark contrast to the colours of the temple.
Before entering the temple we ran into Dr. Tripathi again, and he showed us the archeological dig in front of the temple which was cordoned off. He also showed the old excavated temple on the site which had beautiful carvings, some of them erotic, like the ones at Khajuraho.
As the sun set, the temple looked even more glorious in the twilight. We found a bride and bridegroom doing parikrama to seek divine blessings and the priest at the prasad counter later said that the small community of local Brahmins came to the temple before weddings. As aarti was slated to begin at 7.45 in the evening (and seven in the morning) devotees gathered around.
Dwarakadeesh, who was dressed in black the previous day, was in spotless white clothes. The queue moved quickly as in the previous day and within minutes the crowd had vanished. We sat for a few more minutes admiring the temple architecture.
The next morning we took off to see the Bet Dwarka, an island, 30 km north of Dwarka. Before going, I had looked at the NIO’s DRS site. That explained that the archeological and marine archeological findings in the last two decades in Bet Dwarka.
A large amount of ancient pottery was collected from the site. An excavation was undertaken in 2001 to obtain a cultural sequence of the island. Remains dating back to the late Harappan period were found near Balpur village on the island. A large number of pot shards including carnated dishes, bowls and jars were recovered.
The remains of the same historical period were noticed over a large area of the island with three trenches laid on the southern coast. Discoveries revealed that the important activity during this period was the exploitation of natural resources like shells and fish. The island also served as a safe harbor.
We sat in a launch and moved towards Bet Dwarka. There, we had to wade through narrow dirty lanes to reach the ancient majestic temple which also faces the Dwarkadheesh temple. As if to prove that shells were the main business in earlier days, there were rows and rows of shells and beadwork bags being sold in the small shops lining narrow lanes. We again deposited cameras and cell phones outside and entered a neatly kept temple, with polite priests brimming with stories.
After darshan we quickly took the launch back even as more devotees began to arrive. We returned to Toran for a quick lunch before heaing off once again, this time for the famous Nageshwar Temple 10 km away, also said to be one of the 12 jyotirlingas. We had to buy Ganga water from the temple’s shops and pour it on the lingam but the temple was spacious, neat and not too crowded.
The men in our group, however, had to change into dhotis and upper cloths to go into the sanctum sanctorum, as trousers and shirts (i.e., stitched clothing!) were taboo inside. Initially we women were told we would not be allowed in the sanctum, but they relented later and let us in.
After that we went to the most beautiful Rukshmani temple perched at a height, about 10 km from Dwarka. We could see the yellow and red flag of the Dwarakadeesh temple flying high. The pujari gave some explanation as to why Rukshmani was away from Lord Krishna. He said that the angry Rishi Durvasa had cursed the couple for taking water without permission. On the walls were beautiful paintings depicting the story of Rukshmani and Krishna. For some reason the deity is called Rukshmani and not Rukmini.
On the way back we quickly took a round of Sudama temple, whose friendship with Krishna is legendary and also the place where Krishna was killed by Jara’s arrow. The next morning, we naturally had to go to Somnath, another Jyotirlinga.
We reached Somnath by evening to immerse ourselves in the beautiful temple located at a height from the seashore. As we drove to the guest house 8 km away, we saw the remnants of a rally just addressed by Chief Minister Narendra Modi - enthusiastic young men and women hung around animately discussing his speech!
The return journey was the scenic route - along the coast, through the Girnar forests. Vasumathi gave us insights into the surroundings as she had lived in Gujarat earlier. She even told us that we could run into a lion by the roadside if we were lucky. Well, we weren’t lucky.
However, we saw several birds on the scenic road including Ibis, egrets, pelicans and sea gulls. The roads wound down the coast, flanked by palm trees and we cooled off every so often with coconut water. Again, thanks to Gujarat’s roads, we made it back to Ahmedabad - another 500-odd km in about eight hours including breaks.
As I sat back at home to mull over my trip, I realised it was an experience that most of us wouldn’t mind repeating!
