Bet Dwarka
(IPLTOURS)
Beyt Dwarka
Bet Dwarka is one among the five divine places called as Pancha Dwarka. It is believed that Sri Krishna met his childhood friend Sudhama here. Bet Dwarka confirmed as the original residence of Sri Krishna. Bet Dwarka is a small island in Arabian Sea near Dwarka. It is the Port during the reign of Sri Krishna. Later Dwarka developed and Okka near Dwarka turned as the Port. The temple built by an Architect named Vallabha Acharya five hundred years ago with the idol worshipped by Rukmini. The idol in this temple said to be made by Rukmini. Popcorn (a product with rice) traditionally presented to the deity since Sudhama, the childhood friend of Sri Krishna presented during his visit to Dwarka and Sri Krishna liked the Gift. There are Siva, Vishnu, Hanuman and Devi temples in Bet Dwarka.
The legend is that Lord Vishnu exterminated Sankasura in the Island. The demon Sankasura has a conch-shaped jewel on his head and was very arrogant. He feels that women will be attracted to his wealth. He felt jealous on Sri Krishna as he has enjoying with Gopika, though he is a cowherd. Krishna and Balarama and with pretty Gopika performing the dance rasaleela in the night and Sankasura started to pull Gopika felling jealous on Sri Krishna. Gopika shouted and Krishna stopped Sankasura. He rescued Gopika from Sankasura and asked Balarama for protection. Sankasura feared to the strength of Sri Krishna and ran away for his life. Krishna caught him and knocked down him with a blow taking out the conch-shaped jewel. He has offered the jewel to Balaram and killed Sankhasura.
There are idols of Lord Vishnu in the form of Fish, Rukmini, Trivikrama, Devi, Radha, Lakshmi, Satyabhama, Jambavathi, Lakshmi Narayan and other gods in Bet Dwarka. There is another famous temple Hanuman Dandi in Bet Dwarka. There are several pictures of Hanuman and his son Makara Dwaja. It is believed that a Crocodile (Mosali) ate the leftover fruit of Hanuma and given birth to Makara Dwaja. Bet means Island (Deevi) in Gujarathi Language. Hence the place called as Bet Dwarka.
Pilgrims have to reach Okka Port to reach Bet Dwarka on motar boat. The temple kept open from 9 AM to 1 Noon and from 3 PM to 6 PM. Pilgrims have to return to Dwarka for accommodation.
Dwaraka in the Sea
As per Legends, Present Kali era succeeded with Dwapar era. While pronouncing Bagavad Geeta to Arjuna in Kurukshetra war, Sri Krishna told in Mausala Parva about Dwarka, the big buildings of the City built by him near the sea shore will be merged into the sea in a short time after his demise and the sea lost its presence by converting into a small lake. Sri Krishna built Dwarka in a major extent. The sea between Dwaraka and Bet Dwaraka (Island) seems to be a lake. It was identified that the part of Dwarka was merged into sea 1600 hundred years ago. The Archaeological Survey of India tried to find out the reality and succeeded to major extent. In the excavations conducted by the Gujarat Archaeological Department with the Deccan College, Pune, some ancient monuments were detected.
In 1979, The Archaeological Survey of India and the Naval Archaeological Unit conducted excavations around Dwarakadish Temple in Dwarka, they found a pottery kiln pertains to 3000 years ago. Further excavations started in the year 1981 and continued for 20 years. The Centeral Government sanctioned a project for a period of 3years in 1984. The investigations were made in the convenient period from November to February under the sea. The remnants of some buildings were found in 2007. In the subsequent investigations, plenty of remnants were found relating to Dwarka city submerged in the sea. They find out land marks of the Port walls under the sea in their investigations made in Bet Dwarka.
The entire investigations and excavations clearly discloses that the existence of Dwarka of Sri Krishna dynasty is not at all unpredictable and imaginary but there is the existence of Dwarka and kingdom of Sri Krishna which was subsequently sink and submerged into the sea.
