Gateway To Heaven

Akanksha Maker embarks upon temple adventures in the land of the gods

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India has constantly beguiled me with its eclectic mix of landscapes, cultures, cuisines and of course, its mythology. The city of Dwarka in Gujarat is an extension of this charm. Ironically, it had never been on my bucket list, up until I recently read up on its fantastical tales that date back to a time when human civilisation didn’t exist in the rest of the world.

In the Hindu epic, Mahabharata, Dwarka was the capital of Lord Krishna’s kingdom. According to the saga, the city was a glorious hub that flourished in trade and commerce, thus earning itself the title: “city of gold”. Referred to as Dvaraka, flora, fauna and pleasure gardens dotted its landscape that boasted of almost 9,00,000 royal palaces that were bedazzled with gold, crystal, silver and emeralds. The grandeur didn’t last long though. As per the folklore, a monstrous king called Savla released his wrath fuelled with envy on the coastal city with his flying spaceship or “vimana”. The air weapon caused a considerable amount of damage to Dvaraka, enraging Krishna to abandon his sociable persona and enter the battlefield to take on the barbaric enemy. Post the war, the vandalisation of the city turned out to be so intense that it caused the sea levels to rise fiercely, submerging Dvaraka.

Until a few decades ago, cynics denied the existence of this mythical city and hence the verity of