28 October 2012

Dwaraka Yatra

Between 29 Sep 2012 and 7 Oct 2012, we went on a trip to Dwaraka. Dwaraka was the only Divya Desam in Vadanadu we had not visited. With this trip, we have covered all Divya Desams and Padal Petra Sthalams in Vada Nadu.

Dwaraka is praised in puranas as one of the 7 cities of salvation. It was the city established by Krishna as he migrated from Mathura/ Vrindavan. Dwaraka yatra is variously mentioned as the visit to 5 Dwarakas and 9 Dwarakas. We visited the following temples.

1. Dakor Dwaraka (Location, Temple site), 70 km from Ahmedabad
2. Mul Dwaraka (Location, Temple),  Krishna landed here from Mathura, 50 km from Somnath
3. Mukti Dwaraka, 2km from Somnath, Krishna left for heavenly abode here
4. Sudama Dwaraka (Porbandar), Krishna's friend Kuchela  lived here (also mentioned in Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography
5. Mul Dwaraka  2 (Visawada), 25km from Porbandar, another version of Muldwaraka
6. Bet Dwaraka, 30km from Dwaraka, Island where Krishna built a palace
7. Dwaraka (Location, Temple site), main temple/ town
8. Gomti Dwaraka, Gomti Ghat in Dwaraka
9. Rukmani Dwaraka (Rukmani Temple in Dwaraka
10. Dwarakadhish Temple, Udaipur, Temple outside City Palace in Udaipur
11 Nathdwara (Location, Temple site), Krishna's idol was brought here from Vrindavan, 50km from Udaipur
12. Kankroli (Location, Temple site), Krishna's idol was brought here for protection during Mughal rule, 20km from Nathdwara

We also visited
1. Somnath,  Jyotir Lingam, Destroyed many times, including by Mohd Ghazni
2. Nageshwar, Jyotir Lingam
2. Chittorgarh, the fort of Meerabai