Source: Report about the excavations done by Dr.
S.R. Rao of the Marnie
Archaeology Unit of the National
Institute of Oceanography of India. Underwater museum, in Dwaraka yet to surface
India
Abroad News Service Bangalore - Nearly two decades after marine
archeologists found the lost city of Dwaraka off the coast of Gujarat
the state government continues to drag its feet on a proposal to
establish the world's first underwater museum to view the
remains of the city submerged in
the Arabian Sea. The
proposal for the museum, submitted by the Marine Archeology Center of
the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in Goa, involves laying a
submarine acrylic tube through which visitors can view through glass
windows the ruins of the city said to have been be ruled by Sri Krishna,
3,500 years ago.An alternative suggestion is to have acrylic wells, to
be accessed through boats, from which the remains can be viewed. Another
proposal that remains on paper is for setting up a marine
archeology
museum of Dwaraka antiquities found in the sea. Discovered
in 1981, the well-fortified township of Dwaraka extended more than half
a mile from the shore and was built in six sectors along the banks of a
river before it became submerged. The findings are of immense cultural
and religious importance to India. "The search for the lost
city has been going on since 1930," S.R. Rao, former adviser to the NIO
who is still actively involved in the excavations, told India Abroad. "It
is only after marine archaeologists started exploring the seabed near
modem Dwaraka from 1981 that the structural remains of the city were
found." Rao
said that if a fraction of the funds spent on land archeology were made
available for under-water archaeology, more light could be thrown on
Dwaraka, which had much archeological signifi-cance because it was built
during the second urbanization that occurred in India after the Indus
Valley civilization in northwestern India. Dwaraka's existence disproves
the belief held by Western archeologists that there was no urbanization
in the Indian subcontinent from the period between 1700 B.C. (Indus
Valley) and 550 B.C. (advent of Buddhism). As no information was
available about that period, they had labeled it the Dark
Period. Among
the objects unearthed that proved Dwaraka's connection with the
Mahabharata epic was a sea engraved with the image of a three-headed
animal. The epic mentions such a seal given to the citizens of Dwaraka
as a proof of identity when the city was threatened by King Jarasandha
of the powerful Magadh kingdom (now Bihar). The foundation of boulders
on which the city's walls were erected proves that the land was
reclaimed from the sea about 3,600 years ago. The epic has references to
such reclamation activity at Dwaraka. Seven islands mentioned in it
were also discovered submerged in the Arabian Sea. Pottery,
which has been established by thermoluminiscence tests to be 3,528
years old and carrying inscriptions in late Indus Valley civilization
script; iron stakes and triangular three-holed anchors discovered here
find mention in the Mahabharata.
"The findings in Dwaraka and
archeological evidence found compatible with the Mahabharata tradition
remove the lingering doubt about the historicity of the Mahabharata,"
said Rao. 'We would say Krishna definitely existed." What is needed, he
added, is the political will to reconstruct the cultural history of the
Vedic and epic periods of northern India. The
maritime museums at sites of ' wrecks and submerged ports are
absolutely essential, and portable antiquities should be conserved
properly, lie emphasized. If the proposal to have a maritime museum is
accepted by the Gujarat government, it would be the first of its kind in
India, he pointed out. Recounting the start of exploration for Dwaraka,
Rao said, "We carried out the original survey with just four scuba
divers, while the operation called for the services of around 200 divers
and other staff." But for the work to
progress now,
more equipment is needed, besides funds and time, he warned, adding:
"We
need two barges, one mounted with a crate, and equipment such as an
airlift. We need 30 or 40 divers and engineers. The work should go on
for at least six months and cannot be halt-ed midway." According
to Rao, the project would need at least Rs. 20 million ($476,000).Funds
would have to be provided by the Gujarat government and its tourism
department Other possible sources are the federal Department of Ocean
Development (DOD), which organizes big projects such as expeditions to
Antartica, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the
Council for Scientific
and Industrial
Research (CSIR), which have not contribute much, Rao said.
"The
findings in Dwaraka and archeological evidence found compatible with
the Mahabharata tradition remove the lingering doubt about the
historicity of the Mahabharata. We would say that Krishna definitely existed" - S.R. Rao. Top of Page
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