Gujarat Day 2 - Dwarka & Somnath

It was a chilly morning and our bus was heading close to Dwarka.  Even at around 7 30AM, the sun was not out and we were still with our sweaters and blankets.  There were windmills on either sides of the road.  The bus entered the temple town of Dwarka and dropped us at the bus station.  The Dwarkadish temple was 1km away from the bus station.  We searched and found a dharmashala for refreshing ourselves.  After taking bath, we headed to the Dwarkadish temple.  The lanes leading to the temple were very narrow.  There were shops selling sweets, clothes, items for worship, toys for kids etc. 

The Dwarkadish temple is dedicated to Lord Krishna and the main shrine is a 5-storey building, supported by 72 pillars.  The present temple was built in 16^th Century and it is a part of the Char Dham pilgrimage considered sacred by the Hindus.  Adi Shankaracharya visited this shrine and even today a memorial within the temple is dedicated to his visit.

The entrance to the temple from the North is known as Moksha Dwaar, while the entrance from the south is the Swarg Dwaar.  From the Swarg Dwaar, a flight of steps lead to the sacred River Gomti.  The temple spire is 78m high and constructed of limestone.  The temple shows intricate sculptural detailing created by successive dynasties ruling the region. 

There was a queue inside the temple and people were waiting to see the idol of Lord Krishna which was closed due to a worship procedure in the morning.  Once the doors to the sanctum were open, people thronged around the main hall from where you could see the decorated idol of Lord Krishna as Shree Dwarkadish.  After worship, we walked around the ghats of River Gomti where we observed hundreds of people taking a sacred dip.

We were on a tight schedule – so we left Dwarka and caught an auto to reach Nageswar Mandir, which is one of the 12 jyotirlingas mentioned in the Shiva Purana.  The temple is located 17kms from Dwarka and Nageswar is believed to be the first Jyotirlinga on earth.  

There were groups of people waiting in queue to get a glimpse of the Jyotirlinga.  We joined as well and worshipped Lord Shiva in the form of Nageswar Jyotirlinga.  Sacred texts were painted on the walls.  We learnt that the famous singer Gulshan Kumar made huge donations to the temple.  Outside the main shrine was a huge statue of Lord Shiva with a snake around his neck.

We returned to Dwarka and had a quick lunch.  As we were proceeding to the bus station, we noticed a private van starting on its journey to Porbandar.  We wanted to reach Somnath by evening and Porbandar was enroute.  We hopped in and after a 2 hour journey, we were dropped at Porbandar from where we caught another similar van to reach Veraval by dusk.  Veraval is a fishing town located 10 kms away from Somnath.  From Veraval, we got share autos to reach Somnath.  At Somnath, we found a Paying guest accommodation for Rs 400 a night.  After refreshing ourselves, we proceeded towards the famous Somnath temple.

Somnath temple is another Jyotirlinga located along the shores of the Arabian Sea.  The campus of the temple extended far and there were elaborate security arrangements for visitors to the temple.  We could not carry any electronic item into the temple and there were two separate queues at the entrance – one for men and the other for women and elders.  The queue moved rather quickly and we reached the sanctum in just 20 minutes.  On each chamber, there were display screens relaying live images of Lord Somnath.  

Once out of the shrine, we proceeded to an area where there were exhibits of each of the 12 jyotirlingas.  There was a Marwari food center outside the temple where we had our dinner.  After sitting for a while by the sea coast and listening to the waves, we returned to our accommodation and retired for a well-needed sleep.