Sitting on the western tip of India and meeting the ocean, Dwarkadhish Temple is among the largest temples in the ancient holy city of Dwarka. It’s located where River Gomti meets the Arabian Sea plus one can see the temple from many miles because of its large structure and the vast empty stretch of lands that surrounds the temple.
The temple is active the whole day where day to day activities will be happening from the early morning hours to late evening hours.
History
The annals of the temple extends back to a lot of centuries where people believed that the temple is constructed by Vajranabh, the great-grandson of Lord Krishna and that is where the Hari Griha or the home of Krishna once stood making Dwarka a holy land.
The current structure of Dwarkadhish temple can be an amalgamation of changes and construction for over a few centuries from the 8th to the current year where changes and renovation works have been done.
The giant temple stands tall for over 80m that is equivalent to the existing 25 storey building. And on top of the building is 25ft long flagstaff.
The tall tower over the main sanctum is built in Nagara Style and there are 7 visible stories which are constructed keeping in mind 7 ancient cities in India. The 7 cities which are depicted include Ayodhya here, Mathura, Maya, Kashi, Avantika, Kanchipuram, and Dwarka. If you notice this, the complete of India is represented which can be an intriguing factor here.
Mandapa of the temple is carved out of an individual stone plus it stands on over 72 pillars. It has 4 stories that represent the Char Dhams of Vaishnava Temples, Dwarka being one of the 4 Dhams of the western corner of India.
Design of Architecture
The temple has been constructed generally Solanki style that was a prevalent design of architecture in Gujarat. According to archaeologists, the primary temple is reported to be constructed around 12-13th CE whilst the Sabah Mandap is reported to be constructed around 15-16th CE.
Through the excavations, it really is revealed that may be the 4th temple and the oldest temple should have been around 2000 years old.
Dwarkadhish temple houses among the 4 Shankaracharya Shardha or Peetas Peetas. Shardha Peetas are section of temples that are dedicated to Adi Shankaracharya and in the evenings one can hear students chanting Sanskrit Shlokas from Vedas.
Dwarkadhish Band of Temples
Dwarkadhish Temple is full and big of small temples however, at the inner Girbha or sanctum Gruha, the idol of Lord Krishna as four-armed Vishnu where in fact the experts call this as Trivikram.
The temple of Dwarkadhish here’s referred to as Jagat Mandir also.
The Murti or idol of Dwarkadhish is 2. 25ft is and high carved out of Black Stone. The existing murti may be the third one. The initial Murti is currently at Beyt Dwarka that was bought here to safeguard it from foreign invaders, the initial Murti was thought to be worshipped by Rukmini herself.
The next murti reaches Dakor. The story goes that there is just a little girl who was simply a devotee of Sri Krishna who used to visit from Dakor to Dwarka. Pleased by her devotion, Sri Krishna went alongside her and priests suspected that the lady had stolen the idol so when they approached the tiny girl, she paid them with coins and the next idol sits at Dakor now.
Priests suspected that there surely is another idol at Savitri Taalav so when they dug the area in a rush an incomplete idol arrived. This is actually the current image of Sri Krishna that’s being worshipped.
The idol of Sri Krishna faces the western direction which implies that he may be looking at the ocean where his city has been submerged.
Other temples can be found at the Dwarkadhish temple complex.
As Dwarkadhish temple is really a assortment of the temple, you can notice smaller temples here such as for example
Kusheshwar Mahadev Temple – A shiva temple
Navagraha Yantra
Kashi Visvanath Shivalingam
Gayatri Devi Temple
Aniruddha and Pradyumna Temple
Rishi Durvasa Temple
Amba Ji Temple
Devaki Temple
Radha Krishna Temple
Shankaracharya Samadhi
Gates of Dwarkadhish temple
Dwarkadhish Temple has 2 entrances, they’re titled Moksha Swarga and Dwara Dwara. From the Swarga dwara, 56 steps lead right down to Gomti Ghat and stories claim that 56 steps represent 56 crore yadavas.
Ceremonies
As before mentioned, the whole day where they follow a strict routine the temple is busy. The day during, you will see aarti, darshans, and bhogs. The actions mean, devotees speak to the offer and deity food.
Throughout, the Shringar of the deity is changed and every right time the shringar is changed, the background of the deity is changed where in fact the deity is placed on with amazing jewellery.
Flag Hoisting Ceremony
Among the striking top features of the Dwarkadish temple is its flags. And every right time you look, another colored flag will undoubtedly be visible since it is changed three times in early morning and twice evening hours.
There’s a waiting set of 24 months for an individual to sponsor flags.
The flags itself here hold great importance. The household sponsoring the flag should feed all of the Brahmanas in Dwarka plus they bring the flag singing and dancing to the temple premises. The flag is then wanted to the deity in which a person from the Brahmin community rises and changes the flag.
The flag that’s sponsored includes a complete large amount of rules where it will measure 52 yards. 52 smaller flags are mounted on the large flag representing 52 sub-casts of yadavas. Another theory says 52 represents the 52 doors that Dwarka had once.
The flag could be of any color except black and the flag must have a sun and a moon emblem onto it.