Ancient Hindu City Believed Found in India

Archeologists believe they may have discovered remains of a 3,500-year-old city mentioned in Hindu epic tales that was drowned by the rising Arabian Sea over the centuries, Indian newspapers reported recently.

Seals, earthenware and other artifacts that can be attributed to Dwarka, the mythic capital of a Hindu god, Krishna, have been found off the coast of India’s western Gujarat state, said the news reports.

Archeologists believe the ancient city of Dwarka, described in the Hindu holy epic of Mahabharata, was established about 1500 BC, but was submerged in the Arabian Sea by geological shifts over the centuries, the newspapers said.

A team of divers and scientists from the National Institute of Oceanography recently completed a search for the ruins of Dwarka near the modern coastal city of the same name.

Described in Epic Poems

The reports said the discovery corroborates descriptions of Dwarka given in ancient epics and is expected to bridge an important gap in Indian history between the Harappan civilization of 2500-1500 BC and the pre-Buddhist era that began about 500 BC

Dr. S.R. Rao, leader of the team, was quoted as saying discovery of the city seal, depicting a bull, a unicorn and a goat, also established a link between the Dwarka civilization and the ancient Mideast.

Using underwater cameras, cranes and other equipment, the divers photographed the submerged remains of what they have called Dwarka township, estimated to be a half-mile long and 132 feet wide, the Indian Express newspaper quoted Rao as saying.

The Arabian Sea was about 16 feet lower when the ancient township was built, the newspaper quoted Rao as saying. Other scientific sources suggest that sea level rose over the years between 1500 BC and 1300 BC, he was quoted as saying.

The search for Krishna’s sunken city began in 1979 when scientists objected to a government building in modern Dwarka which blocked a view of a famous temple.