Lord Krishna's Dwarka was not in Jamnagar but in Junagadh: Isro

Giving a totally new twist to the location of Lord Krishna's birthplace Dwarka, satellite pictures taken by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) have indicated that Dwarka did not exist in Jamnagar as the historians believe but in Junagadh district of Gujarat.

A senior scientist with space application centre of Isro, P S Thakker, who has worked on this project, said "What is interesting is that the findings of Isro corroborates the geographical location in the Vedas and other ancient scriptures, but it does contradict claims of modern historians, who claim Dwarka was in the present-day Jamnagar district in Gujarat."

Though the study was done by Isro four years back, it was confined to abstract papers in the dusty shelf of Isro. Satellite images can pinpoint things that are not visible to the naked eye. For example, it can indicate the presence of ruins of a city which has been long buried under the soil.

Thakker said there are nine sites in Gujarat which claim to be part of the original Lord Krishna's kingdom. Those sites are-the holy town of modern Dwarka in Jamnagar district, Mul Dwarka near Kodinar in Junagadh district, Muli in Surendranagar district, Panch Dwarka near Vankaner in Rajkot district, Bet Dwarka in Jamnagar district near Okha and a city believed to be submerged in the great Rann of Kutch.

Another site which is a claimant of Dwarka is Jima durga in Junagadh district. Descriptions of Lord Krishna's Dwarka mentions presence of rivers, forests, mountains, gardens having colourful flowers in its environs. But the present day Dwarka, which exists in Jamnagar, doesn't match with this description found in literature but matches perfectly with the images of satellite which was taken of Junagadh district, Thakker added.

He said the available literature indicates existence of two different Dwarkas at two different periods. One was that of Vasudeva and the other was that of Lord Krishna's. Vasudev's Dwarka, which was submerged under the Arabian Sea about 3,500 years ago, and Krishna's Dwarka were both located in Junagadh district near Prabhash Kshetra, according to Thakker.

In 1988, the sixth marine archeological expedition of the National Oceanography, Goa led by S R Rao, emeritus scientist, had discovered hitherto unknown features of a city in Jamnagar which Rao claimed to be Lord Krishna's Dwarka. The expedition carried out by Rao had come across inner and outer gateways of the proto-historic port city flanked by circular bastions built of massive blocks of sandstone.

From the inner gateway, a flight of steps led to the Gomati river, the submerged channel of which has been traced over a length of 1.5 km in the seabed.

However, Thakker claims this unknown feature of a city discovered by Rao could be any other city settled after 1 AD other than Krishna's Dwarka. He said the study of satellite data perfectly matches with the description given in Tri Shasthi Shalaka Purush Charta (history of 63 outstanding personalities) written by Hemchandracharya, a distinguished Jain muni of 11th century AD who has given geographical description of Krishna's Dwarka built by Kuber at Indra's beshest.

Thakker said the presence of Navda village in the vicinity (which means boat) and milollite limestone found in the vicinity of Girnar in Junagadh suggests the presence of sea in this area.

"It seems that Vasudev's Dwarka which was submerged in the sea as well and the Dwarka of krishna were located in Junagadh district near Prabhash kshetra. Excavation and further study is required to get more scientific information on dwarka," he added.