Yatra to Pancha Dwarakas- An Introduction(Continued)

Why did Lord Krishna choose Dwaraka in the first instance and how and why Dwaraka got submerged in the sea? These questions are better answered by a study of the Puranas.
To escape the continuous attacks of Jarasandh on Mathura and save the lives of its inhabitants (Yadavas), Lord Krishna shifted the seat of his Kingdom to Dwaraka. The city of Dwaraka was built by Viswakarma, the divine architect in the midst of the sea at the behest of Lord Krishna.
The Yadavas dominated the whole earth and had become arrogant after being intoxicated by their power. There is an interesting tale of how this powerful yadava dynasty met their downfall –

At the end of the Mahabharata war, all the sons and grand sons (Kauravas) of Gandhari (wife of Dirudhirashtra) were killed and she blamed Shri Krishna stating that he could have stopped the massacre but did not do so on purpose. She therefore cursed Shri Krishna stating that he & his Yadava clan will be destroyed in 36 years.
Once, some young yadavas played a prank with Sage Kanva, which caused the downfall of the Yadavas. One day, some Yadava children went at the bank of river Narmada where sage Kanva was doing penance. Samba was one of those Yadava children. He disguised himself as a pregnant woman by keeping an iron pestle under his clothes. All the yadava children then went near Sage Kanva and asked him as to when was the pregnant woman supposed to deliver a child. Sage Kanva furiously cursed them that the whole clan of Yadavas would be liquidated because of that very pestle. All the children were scared and told Sri Krishna about the mistake they had made. Sri Krishna ordered that the iron pestle be crushed to powder and be thrown into a pond. But, that was not the end of the matter, as long reeds grew all around the pond. The reeds had very sharp edges. A fish swallowed a small part of that iron pestle and was subsequently caught by a fowler, who retrieved that iron-piece from the fish and fixed it on the top of his arrow.

In course of time all the Yadavas developed enmity among themselves and killed each other with those sharp-edged reeds. Once, Sri Krishna was taking rest under the shade of 'Kalpa' tree. The fowler mistook his pink foot to be that of a deer and pierced it with his arrow. When the fowler arrived at the spot he found Sri Krishna in an injured condition. The fowler regretted his action and begged for Sri Krishna's pardon. Shri Krishna also breathed his last thereafter. After Shri Krishna’s demise, the sea engulfed Dwaraka and submerged the city.

The city of Dwaraka is important in many other ways too. It was a big seaport, a door through which the wealth of the west poured in. The city thus earned the name Dwar-ika or simply Dwaraka. Dwaraka is one of the seven holy cities in India, the others being, Ayodhya, Mathura, Gaya, Kashi, Kanchi & Ujjain. It is one of the Char Dhams or Kingdoms of God, the others being, Badrinath, Puri & Rameshwaram. Dwaraka is one of the 4 places where Adi Sankarar established his Mutts the others being Puri, Sringeri & Joshimath.

There are 9 Dwarakas (some count only the prominent ones and state that there are Pancha Dwarakas). These are:
1. Dwarakadeesh Dwaraka
2. Gomti Dwaraka
3. Rukmini Dwaraka
4. Bhet Dwaraka
5. Sudhama Dwaraka
6. Moola Dwaraka
7. Mukti Dwaraka
8. Dakore Dwaraka
9. Shrinathji Dwaraka
Except Shrinathji Dwaraka, which is in Rajasthan, all the others are in Gujarat. All of them bear the surname Dwaraka as Lord Krishna is either believed to have lived there or a devotee at that place had seen his vision.

Our tour with Sri Mahalakshmi Yathra Service took us to Ahmedabad, Porbandar, Veraval, Somnath, Udaipur, Mount Abu, Ambaji, Ajmer, Pushkar & Jaipur besides the above stated 9 Dwarakas.

We reached Ahmedabad on 31 Jan 2005 evening. Ahmedabad as you might be aware is an old city and the capital of Gujarat is now Gandhi Nagar. The Sabarmati River separates the two.

Prominent among the places visited by us in Ahmedabad & Gandhi Nagar are the Swaminarayan Temple at Akshar Dham and the Sabarmati Ashram established by Mahatma Gandhi.

- Continued-