Introduction

1. Dwarka was the capital of Yadav's empire. Lord Krishna founded Kingdom of Anarta in Dwarka.

2. Dwarka was founded by Lord Krishna due to constant threat to people of Mathura Kingdom, from the Magadha King Jarasandha.

3. Jarasandha was father-in-law of Kansa. Kansa was brother of Lord Krishna's mother Devaki. Kansa imprisoned Devaki & her husband Vasudeva. Lord Krishna freed Vasudeva & Devaki by killing Kansa. Since then Jarasandha constantly attacked the Kingdom of Mathura(Sursena), and hence Yadavs under Lord Krishna founded Dwarka in Modern day Gujrat.



Reason for Creation of Dwarka



1. The ruler of Magadha, Jarasandha who was Father in Law of Kansa, attacked Surasena(Mathura) many times and killed many civilians.

2. Krishna and other Yadav chiefs all became worried for their people.

3. At last they had to flee from their native kingdom to the south and to the west.

4. Later, with the initiative of Krishna, the Yadavas who fled from Surasena formed a new kingdom called Dwaraka.

5. Its capital was Dwaravati, a city well protected by mountains on all sides, in an island, not far from the Gujarat coast.

6. This made it immune to attacks from land.

7. The kingdom prospered by sea trade with seafaring kingdoms.

Construction & Administration of Dwarka

1. Fearing attack from Jarasandh and Kaalayvan on Mathura Civilians, Shri Krishna and Yadavas left Mathura and arrived at the coast of Saurashtra.

2. They decided to build their capital in the coastal region and invoked Vishwakarma the deity of construction. However, Vishwakarma said that the task can be completed only if Samudradev, the Lord of the sea provided some land.

3. Shri Krishna worshipped Samudradev, who was pleased and gave them land measuring 12 yojans and Lord Vishwakarma built Dwaraka, a "city in gold".

4. The land for building the city of Dwarka had been reclaimed from the sea, and a fortified city was built on boulder packing with outer gateway to the sea and inner gateway to Gomti river.

5. Every citizen of Dwarka was required to carry a mudra (rectangular seal with engraved motifs of bull, unicorn and goat) as a mark of identification.

6. Poet Magha in his Sisupalavadha, sarga2, describes in slokas 31 onwards, the city of Dwaraka, sloka 33 can be translated:
"The yellow glitter of the golden fort of the city in the sea throwing yellow light all round looked as if the flames of vadavagni came out tearing asunder the sea."

7. Dwaraka is mentioned as Golden City in Shrimad Bhagvad Gita, Skand Purana, Vishnu Purana and also in Harivansha and Mahabharat

Narayani Sena : Army of Dwarka

1. The total strength of Narayani Sena i.e. army of Dwarka was around 10,00,000 Warriors.

2. The Kingdoms that were defeated by the Narayani Sena were The Angas, the Vangas, the Kalingas, the Magadhas, the Kasis, the Kosalas, the Vatsyas, the Gargyas, the Karushas and the Paundras,--all these they vanquished in battle.

3. In a war prior to Mahabharat War :- Ekalavya, the son of the ruler of the Nishadas, and the Kalingas and the Magadhas, and the Gandharas and the king of Kasi, and many rulers assembled together in the midst of the desert were vanquished by Vasudeva Krishna and his Narayani Sena.

Dwarka in Mahabharat

1. Pandava's sons lived in Dwaraka during their exile to woods.

2. A desert is mentioned to be present on the way from Indraprastha to Dwaraka (the Thar Desert)

3. Bala Rama mentioned about a sacrificial fire of Dwaraka, before he set for his pilgrimage over Sarasvati River

4. King Nriga in consequence of a single fault of his, had to dwell for a long time at Dwaravati and Krishna became the cause of his rescue from that miserable plight.

5. Sage Durvasa resided at Dwaravati for a long time

6. Part of Narayani Sena of Dwarka under Kritavarman fought for the Kauravas. Satyaki fought for the Pandavas. Other Yadav Atirathas and Maharathas abstained from the Mahabharat War on advice of Balarama and Krishna

7. Arjuna visited Dwaravati during his military campaign after the Kurukshetra War

Destruction of Dwarka



1. After the Mahabharata War Krishna lived for 36 years at Dwaraka.

2. At the end, the Vrshnis, Bhojas and Satvatas fought amongst themselves in a fratricidal feud at Prabhasa.

3. After seeing the future destruction of Dwarka, Sri Krishna advised everyone for immediate evacuation of Dwaraka.

4. Dwaraka was abandoned by Hari (Krishna) and submergence took place immediately after Sri Krishna departed from the world.

5. The sea, which had been beating against the shores, suddenly broke the boundary that was imposed on it by nature.

6. The sea rushed into the city.

7. It coursed through the streets of the beautiful city.

8. The sea covered up everything in the city.

9. Even as they were all looking, Arjuna saw the beautiful buildings becoming submerged one by one.

10. Arjuna took a last look at the mansion of Krishna. It was soon covered by the sea.

11. In a matter of a few moments it was all over. The sea had now become as placid as a lake.

12. There was no trace of the beautiful city which had been the favourite haunt of all the Pandavas. Dwaraka was just a name; just a memory.

After Dwarka, Hastinapur & Patliputra Were consumed by Ganga

1. Besides the sea-ports, there were renowned cities which were washed away by the rivers on whose banks they were situated.

2. Hastinapura and Pataliputra, situated on the bank of the river Ganga, also fell victims to flood-fury.

3. Hastinapura was washed away by the Ganga and consequently the Pandavas had to migrate to Kaugdmbi.

4. Pataliputra which was the premier city of the land, became the worst victim of inundation.

Archeological Findings in 2001

1. The ruins of Dwarka were found in the 20th century. Adjacent picture shows the underwater dwarka.

2. On May 19, 2001, India's science and technology minister Murli Manohar Joshi announced the finding of ruins in the Gulf of Khambhat. The ruins, known as the Gulf of Khambhat Cultural Complex (GKCC), are located on the seabed of a nine-kilometer stretch off the coast of Gujarat province at a depth of about 40 m. The site was discovered by a team from the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) in December 2000 and investigated for six months with acoustic techniques.

3. A follow up investigation was conducted by the same institute in November 2001, which included dredging to recover artifacts.

4. A round of further underwater explorations was made in the Gulf of Khambhat site by the NIOT team from 2003 to 2004, and the samples obtained of what was presumed to be pottery were sent to laboratories in Oxford, UK and Hannover, Germany, as well as several institutions within India, to be dated.

5. In a 2003 paper A.S. Gaur and Sundaresh of National Institure of Oceanography concluded "The present excavation has thrown a light on the cultural sequence of Bet Dwarka Island.

6. Around the 17th century B.C. Late Harappan people had established their settlement and they perhaps migrated from Nageshwar which is close by. They have exploited marine resources such as fish and conch shells.

7. It appears that Late Harappans of Bet Dwarka island had interaction with the Saurashtra Harappans and they might be visiting ports on the coast of the northern Saurashtra region.

8. The scanty habitational deposit suggests that the site was abandoned after a couple of centuries. The island was again inhabited during the 8th century B.C. on the southeastern coast of the island."

9. One of the a piece of wood that was carbon dated to around 7500 BCE, a date which is used in arguments for a very early date for a city here. Dr. D.P. Agrawal, chairman of the Paleoclimate Group and founder of Carbon-14 testing facilities in India stated in an article in Frontline Magazine that the piece was dated twice, at separate laboratories.

10. The NGRI in Hyderabad returned a date of 7190 BC and the BSIP in Hannover returned a date of 7545-7490 BC.

11. Lustrous Redware Pottery items were found during explorations

12. The most famous rectangular seal with engraved motifs of bull, unicorn and goat were found in trench UW6 in the sea bed. The seal corroborates the references made in the ancient manuscripts that every citizen of Dwarka was required to carry a mudra (seal) as a mark of identification.

Comments

comments