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@article{187884,
        author = {Dr.S.Santhi and R. Neshant},
        title = {Unravelling the Mystery of a Mythical City through Interdisciplinary Research: A Case Study on the Submergence of Dwarka},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {6},
        pages = {7294-7312},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=187884},
        abstract = {Dwarka, one of the best-studied underwater sites in India, has long attracted significant scholarly attention, partly because it is revered as one of the Char Dhamas (sacred pilgrimage centres) in Hindu tradition. According to ancient Sanskrit literature, Lord Krishna founded the holy city of Dwarka, which later became submerged beneath the sea. Marine archaeological explorations off the present-day Dwarka coast have revealed numerous stone structures— semicircular, rectangular, and square in form—occurring from the intertidal zone to depths of about 6 m. These features are scattered across a wide area. In addition to these structures, a large variety of stone anchors have been discovered both along the structural remains and beyond the 6 m depth contour. These findings collectively indicate that Dwarka functioned as one of the busiest port centres on the west coast of India in the past.
Comparative studies of surrounding archaeological sites suggest that the structural remains at Dwarka may date from the Historical to the late Medieval period. This paper re-examines earlier hypotheses on the identification and dating of the submerged structures in light of new evidence from recent underwater explorations.
Dwarka, celebrated in Indian mythology as the legendary capital of Lord Krishna, presents a rare case where cultural narratives intersect with geophysical and archaeological realities. Ancient texts such as the Mahabharata and Vishnu Purana describe the city’s splendour and its eventual submergence. This study adopts an interdisciplinary physical geography approach to examine the scientific basis of Dwarka’s disappearance, integrating coastal geomorphology, tectonic reactivation, marine transgression–regression cycles,
and underwater archaeological findings. Using remote sensing datasets, sedimentological records, and marine archaeological evidence from regions near Bet Dwarka and Okhamandal, the research evaluates Holocene sea-level fluctuations and tectonic instability along the Saurashtra–Kutch margin. The findings indicate episodes of coastal dynamism that may correspond with mytho-historical accounts of Dwarka’s submergence.
This paper contributes to the emerging discourse on the myth–history–science interface and highlights the need for interdisciplinary approaches in reconstructing past coastal landscapes in the Indian subcontinent.},
        keywords = {Dwarka submergence; coastal geomorphology; tectonic uplift; Holocene sea- level change; transgression–regression; marine archaeology; Saurashtra–Kutch coast; interdisciplinary geography; myth–history convergence.},
        month = {December},
        }