Underwater and land finds at Dwaraka

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Friday, Feb 23, 2007

 

Significant finds at Dwaraka

 

T.S. Subramanian

 

Ancient structures, under water and on land, discovered

 

THE QUEST: An underwater archaeologist of the ASI examines an ancient

structure off the shore of Dwaraka; a circular structure on the shore

at Dwaraka; fragment of an ancient structure found underwater; remains

of an ancient structure in the forecourt of the Dwarakadhish temple.

 

CHENNAI: Ancient structural remains of some significance have been

discovered at Dwaraka, under water and on land, by the Underwater

Archaeology Wing (UAW) of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Alok Tripathi, Superintending Archaeologist, UAW, said the ancient

underwater structures found in the Arabian Sea were yet to be

identified. " We have to find out what they are. They are fragments. I

would not like to call them a wall or a temple. They are part of some

structure, " said Dr. Tripathi, himself a trained diver.

 

Thirty copper coins were also found in the excavation area. The

structures found on land belonged to the medieval period. " We have also

found 30 copper coins. We are cleaning them. After we finish cleaning

them, we can give their date, " he said.

 

Dwaraka is a coastal town in Jamnagar district of Gujarat.

Traditionally, modern Dwaraka is identified with Dvaraka or Dvaravati,

mentioned in the Mahabharata as Krishna's city. Dwaraka was a port, and

some scholars have identified it with the island of Barka mentioned in

the Periplus of Erythrean Sea. Ancient Dwaraka sank in sea and hence is

an important archaeological site.

 

The first archaeological excavations at Dwaraka were done by the Deccan

College, Pune and the Department of Archaeology, Government of Gujarat,

in 1963 under the direction of H.D. Sankalia. It revealed artefacts

many centuries old.

 

The ASI conducted a second round of excavations in 1979 under S.R.

Rao's direction. He found a distinct pottery known as lustrous red

ware, which could be more than 3,000 years old. Based on the results of

these excavations, the search for the sunken city in the Arabian Sea

began in 1981. Scientists and archaeologists have continually worked on

the site for 20 years.

 

The UAW began excavations at Dwaraka again from January 2007. Dr.

Tripathi said: " To study the antiquity of the site in a holistic

manner, excavations are being conducted simultaneously both on land

[close to the Dwarakadhish temple] and undersea so that finds from both

the places can be co-related and analysed scientifically. "

 

The objective of the excavation is to know the antiquity of the site,

based on material evidence. In the offshore excavation, the ASI's

trained underwater archaeologists and the divers of the Navy searched

the sunken structural remains. The finds were studied and documented.

 

On land, the excavation is being done in the forecourt of the

Dwarakadhish temple. Students from Gwalior, Lucknow, Pune,

Vadodara,Varanasi and Bikaner are helping ASI archaeologists. In the

forecourt, old structures including a circular one have been found. A

small cache of 30 copper coins was discovered.