Dwarka: How the Western Archeologists and Christian Missionaries Had LIED, and Misled the World and Indians ?

After Krishna left the earth for Vaikunta, about 36 years after the Mahabharat War (3138 BC), and the major Yadava leaders were killed in disputes among themselves, Arjuna went to Dwarka to bring Krishna's grandsons and the Yadava wives to Hastinapur, to safety. After Arjuna left Dwarka, it was submerged into the sea. Following is the account given by Arjuna, found in the Mahabharata:

"The sea, which had been beating against the shores, suddenly broke the boundary that was imposed on it by nature. The sea rushed into the city. It coursed through the streets of the beautiful city. The sea covered up everything in the city. Arjuna saw the beautiful buildings becoming submerged one by one. He took a last look at the mansion of Krishna. In a matter of a few moments it was all over. The sea had now become as placid as a lake. There was no trace of the beautiful city, which had been the favourite haunt of all the Pandavas. Dwarka was just a name; just a memory." – Mausala Parva, Mahabharata. 

Vishnu Purana too has mentioned a similar account of the above.  

.....To the devotees of Krishna, he is as real as any of their friends or relatives or children depending on how they regard him-as friend, relation, child or lover. This being so, most Indians have not bothered to verify his existence. This itself is very strange since there have been countless devotees of his who have heard the haunting melody of his flute calling to them across the centuries and even seen glimpses of his enchanting form. But this is a failing in the Indian mentality which considers historicity to be of least importance. What is more important to us is the impact that such a being has had on us. Krishna has shaped the trend of our culture, our art, music and sculpture over the centuries and this is enough for us. The very fact that the stories of Krishna have stood the challenge of centuries should have proved to us that such a personality did indeed exist in solid flesh and blood at the time given in our scriptures. The modern mind is the western mind and has a scientific bent and our generation should have tried to price open the veil of the centuries and found out the truth about our favourite god.

But unfortunately the modern educated youth of our country have been fed on a pack of lies which have been given in our history books which have been written by western orientalists with vested interests. Our youth have been brainwashed into believing that our scriptures are all a pack of lies or at best a type of myth and fantasy. However the fact is that our Puranas are true records of our glorious past. When the English first came to India they were shocked to find that if the dates given in our Puranas were true, Indian civilization pre-dated theirs by thousands of years. They refused to accept the fact that a glorious civilization flourished in India at a time when in Europe, they were still scurrying around like barbarians clothed in skins and carrying crude weapons. Thus they labelled as myth all historical evidences in the Hindu scriptures especially in the Puranas.

Brainwashed by the views of the western historians we have forgotten to gaze at our scriptures with an unprejudiced look. If we did so we would realise that Vyasa, the author of the Mahabharata was a contemporary of Lord Krishna and was actually describing events which he had observed himself and in some of which he had played an important part. But unfortunately as I said, our Puranas have never been recognised as a true record of our history by western historians but have been dumped into the category of myth and fantasy. This type of classification had been done by the British colonial scholars who were in reality missionaries who did not want Indian history to clash with the views of the bible. Destroying the historicity of Krishna was an important part of their campaign to establish their own religion in India. To give them their due it might be possible that they did not understand or realise the depth and wisdom which was embedded in the Hindu scriptures. The sad fact is that the Indian historians, who should have known better, blindly copied the facts given by the westerners in their books.

Early western Indologists in their missionary zeal tried to put down the importance of the Vedas as well. They labelled them as primitive mythology. However, many great souls like Schopenhauer in Europe and Waldo in America acclaimed the Vedas as the greatest revelations of divinity known to man. It is said that when Oppenheimer who invented the atomic bomb, watched the explosion, he quoted from the 11th chapter of the Sreemad Bhagavad-Gita. When asked if this was the first ever nuclear explosion he said “yes, in modern times,” meaning to say there were many before that. In fact there is evidence to prove that nuclear weapons were used in the great Mahabharata War.

Another despicable thing done by the western historians in order to belittle the greatness of the Aryan culture was to say that the Aryans were a foreign race who came from outside. Modern archaeologists have proved this to be absolutely false. Archaeology certainly does not support the Aryan invasion theory. Recent independent studies show no evidence of a foreign invasion occurring in India at the dates pointed out by the historians. The river, Saraswathy is described more than 50 times in the Rig Veda. Satellite pictures very clearly show the Saraswathy rising in the Himalayas and going to the Arabian Sea. The drying up, due to many geographical reasons, is also clearly seen in the pictures. The great Vedic culture flourished all along the banks of the River Saraswathy and was essentially a product of the holy soil of India and not an implant from outside. This is clearly shown in the Vedas. Why did those historians not accept the data given in the Vedas instead of going on a trip of their own in order to establish their own views which were certainly not supported by anything in our scriptures and inflict their religion on this country?

Unfortunately our own historians have only copied all the false observations of our own country’s history and these are the views that are being taught to our school children. Brought up on western educational methods and books, our children have been taught to scorn their own religion and doubt the reality of their gods who are the corner stones of our culture.

Luckily this century which is famous for its thirst for investigations, has unearthed many astonishing facts, which will prove, for those who need proof, that our scriptures were absolutely correct in their description of the fabulous city of Dwaraka which was built by Krishna as the stronghold of the Yadavas. It will also prove that Krishna was indeed the superman or supreme incarnation of God as our scriptures declare.

When the Pandavas heard that Krishna, their friend, God and guide had left this mortal plane, Yudhistira, the eldest Pandava and King of Bharatavarsha (India) sent his brother Arjuna, the middle Pandava to Dwaraka to find out what has happened to the Yadava clan. When Arjuna reached the place he was appalled to find what was happening. The quotation given above is from the Mahabharata and is a first hand account of how Dwaraka went under the sea underArjuna’s very eyes, as prophesied by Lord Krishna.

The modern city of Dwaraka is to be found in Saurashtra and is a great pilgrim centre since our scriptures declare it to be the seat of the Yadava clan and Lord Krishna’s capital. However according to the stories mentioned in many of the Puranas like, the Mahabharata, Harivamsa, Vishnu Purana etc. that fabled city of Dwaraka had been washed away into the sea. Soon after the Lord left his mortal body, the city was washed away as he had predicted, the scene of which has been graphically described above.

 

In 1983 some excavations were done outside the modern city of Dwaraka, which revealed the existence of a glorious city of ancient times. They found seven temples one on top of the other. The bottom most one was the most interesting since it showed many pottery shards  and seals which clearly pointed to the existence of a fantastic city at about the time mentioned in the Mahabharata. These findings encouraged the Marine archaeology centre of the National Institute of Oceanography, to take up a serious work along the coast of the island known as Bet Dwaraka. 

The strongest archaeological support for the existence for the legendary city of Dwaraka, comes from the structures discovered in the late 1980s under the seabed off the coast of modern Dwaraka in Gujarat by a team of archaeologists and divers led by Dr S.R. Rao, one of India's most respected archaeologists. An emeritus scientist at the marine archaeology unit of the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, Rao has excavated a large number of Harappan sites, including the port city of Lothal in Gujarat.
 

In his book “The Lost City of Dwaraka”, published in 1999, he writes about his undersea findings: “The discovery is an important landmark in the history of India. It has set to rest the doubts expressed by historians about the historicity of the Mahabharata and the very existence of the city of Dwaraka.

Conducting 12 expeditions during 1983-1990, Rao identified two underwater settlements, one near the present-day Dwaraka and the other off the nearby island of Bet Dwaraka. This tallies with the two Dwarakas mentioned in the epic. These underwater expeditions won Rao the first World Ship Trust Award for Individual Achievement.

 

Dr Rao is to be congratulated on his efforts in corroborating these truths with evidence that can stand the test of critical analysis and scientific evaluation. He says that further digging and diving, in India’s vast treasure trove of historical facts will further corroborate the key dates of our eventful and glorious past.

Another important find by the divers was a conch seal that established the submerged township's connection with the Dwaraka of the Mahabharata. The seal corroborates the reference made in the ancient text, the Harivamsa that every citizen of Dwaraka had to carry such a seal for purposes of identification. Krishna had declared that only one who carried such a seal could enter the city. A similar seal has been found onshore.

From 1998 to 2001 many underwater explorations were set about which pointed out to a highly civilised city which must have existed at that site, which had great maritime connections with many other countries and which must have been washed away by something like a tsunami or some such hurricane. Dwaraka was a large well- fortified city with an excellent drainage system, massive gates and a wall stretching about hundred eighty miles. It was a sprawling city with gardens and orchards and bastions, with a population of about 10 thousand people. There are many clues which point out to the fact that it must also have been a bustling port. Many ancient anchor stones give ample evidence of this.

All these findings have suddenly roused a lot of interest amongst all Hindus both in India and abroad since it is solid proof of the existence of one of the favourite gods in the Hindu pantheon, namely Lord Krishna.

Around the same time archaeologists from other countries were also busy. Along the coast of the Bay of Cambay and off the coast of modern Dwaraka, they found evidence of a settlement deep under the sea. In seventy feet of water, they found sandstone walls and cobbled streets. Looking up the descriptions of the city of Dwaraka as found in the ancient Hindu scriptures they realised that this must be the remains of the legendary city of Dwaraka ruled by the great God King, Krishna. Wood and pottery chards were found that can be dated back to 32,000 years again proving that the time limits set in ancient Hindu scriptures might be true even though most westerners dismissed it as being absurd. But now with these findings they cannot help but believe, if they want to believe. For many years now western Indologists have shut their eyes to the glory that was ancient India. The city had existed from 32,000 to 9,000 BC.  This discovery proves that the life of Krishna is not mere mythology but it is a true, historical record of a towering personality who had lived on this holy land of India. 

The west coast of Gujarat was the traditional land of the Yadavas, or Yadus, the clan of Krishna. According to the Bhagavad Purana, Krishna led the Yadavas on a thousand kilometre trek from Mathura, the first capital of the Yadavas towards the west coast of India to establish a magnificent city called Dwaraka, where they could start a new life, safe from their enemies in the Gangetic plain.

The Mahabharata says, Dwaraka was reclaimed from the sea. Rao’s divers discovered that the submerged city's walls were erected on a foundation of boulders, suggesting that the land was indeed reclaimed from the sea. However after its Lord and master left this plane, the sea claimed back the land which had been taken from it. One cannot separate Dwarka from Krishna. If the city existed, then it is true that Krishna also existed.

Dr Narhari Achar, professor of physics at the University of Memphis, Tennessee, has dated the Mahabharata war using astronomy and regular planetarium software. According to his research conducted in 2004-05, the titanic clash between the Pandavas and the Kauravas took place in 3067 BC. Using the same software, Dr Achar places the year of Krishna’s birth at 3112 BC. Actually our Puranas set a far earlier date.

Another very interesting fact found by astronaut technologists is that the war between a king called Salva and Lord Krishna, which is described both in the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Purana, is actually a description of a war with an extra- terrestrial being.

The Bhagavad Purana says that Salva had done great tapas to Shiva and had been given an aerial vehicle called the Saubha which was as big as a palace and which had miraculous powers like becoming invisible and appearing at different places at the same time: 

"From his excellent vimana he threw down a torrent of projectiles . . . A fierce vortex arose and blanketed the entire area with billowing dust."— Srimad Bhavagatam (Canto 10, verse 76) 

Lord Krishna suddenly appears in his shining chariot to confront King Salva in battle. When Salva saw Krishna's chariot on the battlefield, he thereupon released a great and powerful weapon which "flew through the sky with a roaring sound like a great meteor". The text describes it as being so bright that it literally "lit up the entire sky". This sounds a lot like a blazing rocket! As Krishna began his counterattack, Salva engages the special powers of his vimana in an all out effort to avoid destruction. A modern translator provides us with the graphic details:

"The airplane occupied by Salva was very mysterious. It was so extraordinary that sometimes many airplanes would appear to be in the sky, and sometimes there were apparently none. Sometimes the plane was visible and sometimes not visible, and the warriors of the Yadu dynasty were puzzled about the whereabouts of the peculiar airplane. Sometimes they would see the airplane on the ground, sometimes flying in the sky, sometimes resting on the peak of a hill, and sometimes floating on the water. The wonderful airplane flew in the sky like a whirling firebrand—it was not steady even for a moment." (Bhaktivedanta, 1986)

Salva had been itching to get his hands on Dwaraka and when he heard that both Krishna and Balrama were away at Indraprastha, the capital of the Pandavas and only Krishna’s son, Pradyumna was left to guard the city, he decided that this was an opportune moment to attack it. He flew over Dwaraka in the Saubha and destroyed the outer woodlands and gardens. Then he directed his attack against the bastions of the city so that his army which was marching over land could easily penetrate it. Flashes of lightning, hail stones, cyclonic storms and clouds of dust were released from the Saubha which was equipped with all the latest type of weapons! Pradyumna and some of the other sons of Krishna ably defended the city for twenty seven days but were overpowered by Salva’s superior forces.

Lord Krishna heard of the attack and hurried to his son’s rescue and there ensued a mighty war between the super human, Krishna and the alien- Salva. In this Krishna is said to have fired arrows which resembled thunderbolts and balls of lightning and brilliant piercing rays of the sun. The weapons used by Salva makes one suspect that he was using alien technology. His spacecraft made of metal seemed to appear simultaneously at different places like the UFOs. But Lord Krishna retaliated with weapons which had the force of superior spiritual power and Salva who was hard pressed resorted to magic tricks and created the form of Lord Krishna’s father, Vasudeva and proceeded to cut off his head in front of Krishna’s eyes. Krishna faltered for just a moment but then realised that this was another trick of his enemy and very soon he brought the Saubha down with one of his miraculous astras(missiles), charged with the power of potent mantras. But Salva escaped and came to fight with him again in the great Mahabharata war.

Krishna is famous for his lilas or pranks and games. All these centuries he kept his identity a secret and played along with the western historians and allowed people to think that he was only a myth of the febrile imagination of the mighty intellect of Vyasa! But now it looks as if He has decided that this is enough. He has chosen to reveal himself- tear open the veil of maya in which He has shrouded himself and expose the truth of his inspiring life to the public gaze!

It is in view of such great findings that I have ventured to write a new Introduction to Sri Krishna Lila which is being re-printed by Inner  Traditions, Vermont, USA. I hope this will bring about a revival of interest in the perennial philosophy of Hinduism and uplift the glory of the supreme incarnation of Lord Krishna.

Moreover, Dwarka is one of seven most holy places for Hindus in India where Varanasi is considered as the holiest of the seven holy cities.

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Ayodhyā Mathurā Māyā Kāsi Kāñchī Avantikā  Purī Dvārāvatī chaiva saptaitā moksadāyikāh - Garuḍa Purāṇa I XVI .14

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A Kṣetra is a sacred ground, a field of active power, a place where Moksha, final release can be obtained. The Garuda Purana enumerates seven sites as giver of Moksha, They are Ayodhya, Mathura, Māyā, Kāsi, Kāñchī, Avantikā and Dvārāvatī.

Note: Much of what is found here has been adapted from the article written by Sri Sri Srimati Sri Matha Devi Vanamali, who is the founder of Vanamali Gita Yogashram, which is a small ashram nestling at the foot of the Himalayas beside the beautiful river Ganga in the holy city of Rishikesh, North India. Mataji, who is trained in Transcendental Meditation, received her mantra upadesha from His Holiness Sri Jayendra Saraswati Maharaj, who is the Shankaracharya and ruling pontiff of Kanchi Kamokoti Peetam in the holy city of Kanchipuram in South India.