Dwarakanatha: The Lord of Dwaraka

The famous temple called Dwarakadish, dedicated to Lord Krishna, the king of Dwaraka, is found in the city called Dwaraka on the west coast of India in the state of Gujarat. It is considered to be one of the seven Holy Cities of India. The others are Ayodhya, Mathura, Haridwar, Varanasi, Kanchipuram and Ujjain. According to tradition, the original temple of Dwarakadish was built by Krishna's great-grandson, Vajranabha, over the ruins of Lord Krishna's own palace, which was the only building that was not washed away by the tsunami. However, the ancient, famed city of Dwaraka existed five thousand years ago during the time of the Krishnavatara. It is no more to be seen now since it lies at the bottom of the sea. Dwaraka's majesty and beauty have been described by many poets and writers, saints and sages of ancient India. It is referred to as Golden City in the Srimad Bhagavatam, Skanda Purana, Vishnu Purana, Harivamsha and the Mahabharata. One of the verses in the Bhagavatam says: "The yellow glitter of the golden fort of the Dwaraka City in the sea, throwing yellow light all round, looked as if the flames of Vadavagni (the fire of eternity) came out, tearing asunder the sea." It was a bustling port and had an island close by which also served as a harbor. If the number, size and variety of stone anchors are any indication of the size of the port, it can be said that Dwaraka must have been the largest port of the third millennium B.C. on the Indian Coast. As many as 50 stone anchors are still visible. But several hundred must have been buried in the sediment. This was probably one of the reasons why the city got its name. "Dwara” means gate in Sanskrit and the port of Dwaraka was perhaps the gate which enabled the ancient sea-faring cities of the west to enter the great subcontinent of India. The Sanskrit word 'Ka' also stands for Brahma so perhaps it was a city dedicated to Brahma, the creator in the trinity. Mathura had been the capital of the Surasenas (one of the clans of the Yadavas), but it was fully exposed and could not defend itself from the continued attacks of King Jarasandha of Magadha. Krishna decided that his clan would have to shift if they wanted a peaceful life without the threat of constant attacks from enemies. By a series of forced marches, he took all his people to the west coast of India to the ancient city of Kushasthali (Gujarat), which had the sea as one of its boundaries, and decided that it was best suited for their needs. He then proceeded to reclaim land from the ocean. There he built a wonderful city called Dwaravati. His kingdom included many of the islands along the shore as well as the Anarta kingdom of the mainland. This is the Dwaraka about which mention has been made in all our Puranas. There are many stories written about Krishna's early life in Gokulam and Vrindavana, but very little about his sojourn in Dwaraka, even though this is the place he spent the major portion of his life.