Dwarka or Dvaraka, the lost city of Krishna, considered a myth, was discovered in the Arabian Sea at a depth of 36 meters. The accidental and startling discovery made in the state of Gujarat in northwestern India is likely to astound even stubborn skeptics.
“The huge city, 8 km long and 3 km wide, is believed to be more than 5,000 years older than the oldest known ruins on the subcontinent,” the BBC said.
Ancient Indian texts describe the legendary city and deeds of the demigod Krishna, who resided in this sacred place.
The ruins in the Gulf of Cambay were discovered by a team from the Marine Archeology Department of the National Institute of Oceanography of India (NIO). This was announced on May 19, 2001 by the Minister of Science and Technology of India Murli Manohar Joshi.
Follow-up studies were carried out in 2001, 2003 and 2004. The collected samples were sent for analysis and dating to laboratories in India, Great Britain and Germany.
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After seeing and examining underwater buildings and artifacts, scientists came to the conclusion that this is indeed the lost city of Dwarka.
The relics found confirm the existence of an ancient civilization that predates the current one.
Some artifacts and debris, including human bones, beads and sculptures, are between 7,500 and 9,500 years old. The city is believed to have flourished around 12,000 years ago.
"The theory of the origin of civilization must be rewritten from the ground up," said author Graham Hancock in light of the startling find.
However, when the research was in full swing, the Indian government suddenly forced scientists to stop digging and close the project.
“Our views are completely different from yours,” a foreign researcher, Amish Shah, replied to the Indian government.
Moreover, officials rejected Shah's request to learn more about the sunken city, noting that they did not want to "work on a preconceived idea."
“What are they trying to hide? - asks the researcher in the documentary "Dwarka: Atlantis of the East". "I could no longer resist and decided to fly to India to explore on my own."
“Why did it stop? If that's true, why aren't you trying to dig more and get as much information as possible?”Shah asked an archaeologist in Gujarat.
“Everyone just left,” was the answer.
Interestingly, the man who tried to continue his exploration after SR Rao, the first explorer of the city, mysteriously disappeared.
Later, a university professor who did not want to appear on camera for fear of retaliation said the project was closed "due to politics."
Despite controversy, a 2017 article in the Khaleej Times shows that there have been attempts to explore the sunken city using robots.
An ancient text written 12,000 years ago tells of a war in which King Salva tried to destroy Dwarka. References are made to aircraft known as Vimanas, which were used in battle and were apparently more advanced than today's weapons.
This text says that Krishna used a weapon “as deadly as fire and sun, and as deadly as snake venom,” which destroyed the vimaanas. But King Salva managed to escape. Then Salva rushed to Krishna, and Krishna killed him with a "shiny disc."
"If this is just mythology, how could the writers of ancient India describe missiles, beam weapons and high-tech flying machines in such detail?" - asks Dr. Richard Thompson of Cornell University, one of the few scientists who did this research in 1993.
In the meantime, officials forbid excavations, and scientists are trying to resume them, the ancient Indian city under water continues to keep secrets.