In ancient times, when Lord Krishna was present on this Earth, He constructed a very grand city which, it is said, both Sri Radha and Sri Krishna envisioned for the members of the Yadu family (Lord Krishna’s family) in the middle of the sea, close to the city of Dwarka, in present day Gujarat.
In the Srimad Bhagavatam, it is stated that Krishna constructed the fort in the midst of the sea. Remnants of the fort Krishna constructed still exist in the Bay of Dwarka. The Krishna Book of ISKCON and the Srimad Bhagavatam have descriptions of how the Fort City of Dwarka was built. I will quote the following section from the Krishna book so that we get an authoritative description of the city to begin with: -
History of Dwarka
“Krishna first of all constructed a very strong wall covering 96 square miles, and the wall itself was within the sea. It was certainly wonderful and was planned and constructed by Vishwakarma. No ordinary architect could construct such a fort within the sea, but an architect like Vishwakarma, who is considered to be the engineer among the demigods, can executive such wonderful craftsmanship anywhere in the universe. If huge planets can float in weightlessness in outer space by the arrangement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, surely the architectural construction of a fort covering 96 square miles within the sea was not very wonderful.
It is stated in the Srimad Bhagavatam that this new, well constructed city, developed within the sea, had regular planned roads, streets and lanes. There were also well-planned parks and gardens filled with plants known as kalpa-vrikshas, or desire trees. These desire trees are not like the ordinary trees of the material world; the desire trees are found in the spiritual world. By Krishna’s supreme will, everything is possible, so such desire trees are also filled with many palaces and gopuras, or big city gates. These gopuras are still found in some of the larger temples. They are very high and constructed with fine artistic skill. Such palaces and gates held golden waterpots (kalashas). These waterpots on the gates or on the palaces are considered auspicious signs.
Almost all the palaces were skyscrapers. In each and every house there were underground rooms containing big golden and silver pots for stocking grain. And there were many golden waterpots within the rooms. The bedrooms were all bedecked with jewels, and the floors were mosaic pavements of marakata jewels. The Vishnu deity worshipped by the descendants of Yadu, was installed in each house in the city. The residential quarters were so arranged that the different castes – brahmanas, kshatriyas, vaishyas and sudras – had their respective quarters. It appears from this that the caste system mentioned in the Bhagavad-Gita existed even at that time. In the center of the city was a residence made specifically for King Ugrasena. This was the most dazzling of all the houses.
When the demigod Indra saw that Krishna was constructing a particular city of His own choice, he sent the celebrated parijata tree of the heavenly planets to be planted in the new city, and he also sent a parliamentary house, Sudharma.” Then there are descriptions of how each and every of the 33 million demigods presented their respective gifts to Lord Krishna to make the city of Dwarka unique within the universe.
Modern-day Dwarka
Very recently, in February 2024, Prime Minister Modi did an underwater expedition to the submerged city in the sea and planted a wreath of peacock feathers right in the middle of the city. In his own words, the Prime Minister said "To pray in the city of Dwarka, which is immersed in the waters, was a very divine experience. I felt connected to an ancient era of spiritual grandeur and timeless devotion. May Bhagwan Shri Krishna bless us all." This exemplary Prime Minister is also promoting tourism in the city of Dwarka by planning submarine tours of the submerged city for tourists. This can prove to be a very popular initiative and will herald a new kind of tourism in India.
Image: underwater Dwarka (credits: mytravaly.com)
The future cities of the Earth
Baba Vanga, the Bulgarian seer, made a prediction about the future of human civilization. She stated in one of her predictions that human civilization will, at some point, go underwater. This is most likely because of the rise in the sea levels everywhere around the world due to global warming. The cities of the future can go underwater because of the rise in sea levels. We can observe how most of the prominent cities around the world have been built close to the sea, many having seaports as well which made them trading hubs in the world. Movies like Avatar: the Way of Water, a very successful sci-fi movie, already depict how there can be human life under water and it is interesting to note that the latter also portrays how humans can interact with sea creatures.
Image: future underwater cities (Credits: Bing)
Dwarka can become a model for cities which have to be built in the future. This city was built both on the sea water and under the sea and it almost invariably had Vimanas both for the sea and space, as Lord Krishna received visits from the demigods in Dwarka. Archaeological surveys of the city of Dwarka excavated many underwater sites and collected many artefacts like construction materials, pottery, coins and sculpture. Carbon dating of the site reveals that Dwarka is about 9500 years old although this figure can be disputed since Lord Krishna’s birth was around 3228 BCE, i.e about 5000 years ago. We know for a fact that Lord Krishna spent 125 years on Earth.
Image: Dwarka (Credits: Bing)
Dwarka - a place of pilgrimage
Lord Krishna lived with His 16,108 queens in Dwarka, each queen having her own palace. However, the main queen of Dwarka was certainly Rukmini who made Lord Krishna famous as Rukmini-Dwarkadhish. Rukmini was an incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi and she managed the household affairs of the city very nicely during Lord Krishna’s rule on Earth as the Lord of Dwarka or Dwarkadhish. Again, when Lord Krishna left the Earth for his heavenly abode, Vaikuntha, he caused the ocean to submerge the city of Dwarka and also caused the Yadu family to depart from the Earth when, by Lord Krishna’s own arrangement, they fought amongst themselves. These are the very remains of the city of Dwarka that are being excavated today.
Image: Sri Sri Rukmini Dwarkadhish (Credits: Iskcon Dwarka & harekrishnawallpapers.com)
Today, Dwarka continues to be a place of spiritual pilgrimage. The present-day Dwarka’s Dwarkadhish Temple, stands as a prominent place of worship for the thousands of devotees of Lord Krishna who visit the city every day.
The next video is an informative documentary of the city of Dwarka by the famous channel Gaia: -
Video: Dwarka (Credits: Gaia)
By KLP (28 July 2024)
The author: Krishna Leela Prakash
The Guru: His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada
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