Panch Dwaraka

Lord Krishna birth is at Madura on the banks of Narmada River and grown his childhood up to adolescence at Dwaraka in the coast of Arabian Sea. He has rules his kingdom making Dwaraka as capital and even left his incarnation near Dwaraka. The holy places of grown and developed Krishna are in Gujarat and Rajasthan are famous as Five Dwaraka Shrines. The first one is Dwaraka of old Saurashtra and present Gujarat from Lord Krishna ruled his kingdom. The next is Bet Dwaraka, an island. Krishna resided with parents Nanda and Yasoda here. Bet Dwaraka and Dakor are also in present Gujarat State. The other two holy places are Nath Dwara and Kankroli in Rajasthan State.     

The interested persons having desire to visit the five holy places may travel to Somanath by train or road and stay there. They may visit Somanatheswar, the 1st among the 12 Jyothirlingas along with Bulki Teerdh in Vareval, 5km from Somanath where Lord Krishna left his incarnation. They may continue their travel to Dwaraka by train or road to visit Dwarakadish and other temples along with the 8th Jyothirling Nageswar on the way to Bet Dwaraka reaching Okka and travel in motor boat. Visiting Lord Krishna and other temples, they may reach Ahmadabad by train or road and to travel Kankroli by train or road which is 320 km from Ahmadabad. They visit Dwarakadish in Kankroli and Srinath Ji  in Nathdwara, 17 km from Kankroli. Returning to Ahmadabad from Kankroli, they have to visit the Ranchhodrai ji and return to their original place from Ahmadabad.

The travel to these holy places may perform at any time in the year. The five holy places Dwaraka, Bet Dwaraka, Dakor, Kandroli and Nath Dwara will be tumultuous on the auspicious day Janmashtami, the birth day of Lord Krishna with heavy crowd of pilgrims arrive from all over India. There are several Dharmasala available on rented basis for accommodation of families besides plenty of Medium and Star hotels with all facilities. Vegetarian meals along with Gujarati and Rajasthan thali are available except in Bet Dwaraka.       

Pancha Dwaraka Yatra fulfill the darshan of the five holy places along with the Somanath and Nageswar, the 1st and 8th of the 12 Jyothirling. Somanath Temple was reconstructed several times due to destruction in Mughal invasions. They may visit the valuable paintings in Rukmini and other temples besides Picnic spots Galjeswar at Dakore, artificial lakes at Kandroli developed by the Rajasthan Government and the Squared Vishnu Temple in Nath Dwara built 600 years ago. The Temples of Shiva and Kesava (Krishna) may be visited in the Yatra and all visitors irrespective of age get amusement to their heart and souls.