Lets Go! Gujarat - 4. Jamnagar, Dwaraka and Somnath
- Krishna Prabhu
- Oct 31, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 17, 2019
We caught an early GSRTC express bus the next day, to proceed to Jamnagar and our journey took us almost 7 hours, mostly due to not very good roads (probably due to heavy rains this season). We visited Jamnagar mainly as a rest stop on the way to Dwaraka and also to see the Marine national park - the first and only one of its kind in India. The national park is made up of 42 islands, 33 of which are surrounded by coral reef. The unique aspect of this park is that, it is one of the few places in the world, where one can see the marine ecosystem without diving underwater and just by wading into the knee deep water. We had heard of a variety of sea creatures like sea cucumber, molluscs, jelly fish, etc., along with various sizes and shapes of Corals, that could be seen here. Unfortunately, we were disappointed to learn that the marine park was closed by the forest department for the next two days due to the tide conditions not being safe.
However, putting the disappointment quickly behind us, we then proceeded to the majestic Lakhota Talav and palace in the middle of the large lake in the heart of Jamnagar city. The palace lighting after sunset, was truly spellbinding and something worthy to behold. The palace housed many artifacts of the earstwhile rulers from this region and also some artifacts of Raja Ranjitsinghji (one of the finest cricket players from early India on whose name the Ranji Trophy is held each year). The palace also housed the skeleton of a blue whale, albeit smaller in size than the one which we saw in Indroda Nature park.
Next day, we set out early in the morning to the holy city of Dwaraka, Lord Krishna’s ancient capital. The GSRTC Gurjarnagari bus journey was smooth and we reached Dwaraka on time within 3 hours, around 10 am in the morning. Gurjarnagari buses were more comfortable than express type of GSRTC buses, with fewer stops. After checking into our hotel, we proceeded to the office of the Dwaraka tourism department (at bhindi bazaar), which conducts the half day Dwarika darshan (sight seeing) bus tours around Dwaraka. We booked the tickets here for the tour later in the day, which were very reasonable priced at Rs.100/- per person.
We then proceeded by walk to the main Dwarkadhish temple, situated on the banks of river Gomti to have a darshan of the Lord. This is one quarter of the most sacred Char Dham (four abodes) yatra for devout Hindus. It is considered that every Hindu must visit the Char Dhams at least once during their lifetime (the other three are Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu, Badrinath in Uttarakhand and Puri Jagannath in Orissa). The original Dwarkadhish temple was believed to have been built by Lord Krishna's grandson himself Vajranabha, over Lord Krishna's residential place. The original structure was destroyed by Mahmud Begada in 1472, and subsequently rebuilt in the 15th-16th century by Sri Vallabhacharya. Be cautious of certain folks at the entrance of the temple who might insist themselves upon you to be your guide, though some of them are quite good. Just make sure to agree upon a price for their services beforehand itself.
Post lunch, the first stop during our Dwarika darshan tour was at Rukshamani (Rukmini) temple, where Lord Krishna and Devi Rukmini were separate for 12 years due to a curse from Durvasa muni. We later proceeded to Nageshwar Jyotirling temple, which is one of the most ancient Jyothirling temples in India. There was also a giant statue of Bhagvan Shivji in the temple complex.
We then proceeded to the island of Beyt Dwaraka by boat, from Okha jetty (ride takes around half an hour). This is the place where Sudhama gave a gift (Beyt or Bhent) of a handful of rice to Lord Krishna during their re-union after many years. A beautiful Shri Keshavraiji Temple temple is constructed here by the Pushkarni community several hundred years back. Due to erosion from the sea, large part of this island has sunk underwater and ASI continues to excavate the surrounding areas of this island from decades. The public boat costs just Rs.20 to cross over, but they make sure it’s filled to the brim and you travel at your own risk! (but it’s generally safe!).
We came back to Dwaraka city late in the evening exhausted from our full day trip. After a good dinner, the untiring ladies again hit the shopping markets around the main Dwarikadish temple, while the tired gents retired back to the hotel.
Early morning the next day we proceeded to Somnath by GSRTC Gurjarnagri bus. Again due to not very good roads, we reached Somnath by around 2 pm. After checking into the hotel, we hired an auto to take us sight-seeing to all the tourist places.
We first visited Balkha Teerth in Veraval, where Lord Krishna did his final leela (divine sport) on this earth, under a Peepul tree. The hunter Jara (who was King Vali reborn), can be seen seated near the lord and asking for his forgiveness, after mistakenly shooting an arrow at the lord’s feet, thinking it to be a deer’s eye.
We later proceeded to Triveni sangam - a confluence of three rivers - Hiranya, Kapila and Saraswathi. We could see a clear demarcation line on the water, separating the two rivers Hiranya and Kapila, whereas Saraswathi remains hidden and silently flowing underneath. A nice boat ride for Rs.40/- per person, took us around the Triveni Sangam area. We then proceeded to Gita mandir and Golok Dham prasthan. According to the legend, Lord Krishna was carried by Balarama from Balkha teerth to this point. From here Lord Krishna proceeded to his eternal abode Goloka Dham, whereas Balarama took his original Sesha (serpant) form and proceeded to the netherworld. I felt a few moments of sadness in my heart imagining this event and the departing of Lord Sri Krishna forever from this earth. It is said that Kali Yuga (age of Kali) started from the moment Lord Krishna left this world about 5,000 years ago!
We then quickly proceeded to watch the sunset into the Arabian Sea, outside the main Somnath temple. Our last visit for the day was the very grand Somnath Jyotirling temple, dedicated to lord Shiva. The temple complex though hundreds of years old and withstanding the marauding army of many kings, was destroyed and rebuilt several times in its history. It’s really a magnificent structure to behold and its beauty is amplified by the evening laser/ led lights, that are focused on different parts of the entire temple. These lights are of different colors which kept changing every few minutes and were truly a sight to behold. We had heard of a sound and light show here as well, which was temporarily closed at that time.
We had darshan of the lord a few times and then visited around the temple complex, which houses a showcase of all the 12 Jyotirling temples in India. We then sat on the well-manicured gardens and silently soaked in the lighting and the beauty of the temple to our hearts content. An interesting place was behind the temple, where we saw an arrow that significantly points to the south pole. The amazing part is that, there is no land mass at all from this point till the south pole in the direction pointed by the arrow! (I verified this on Google maps!). Such was the brilliance of our ancient forefathers, who knew this fact, much before modern technology dawned upon us. We purchased tasty Laddoo (sweet-meat) Prasad, as we exited the temple and made our way back to the hotel for the night.
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