7 Things To Do When You are Visiting Dwarka City in Gujarat

Dwarka City is ancient and obviously full of stories. Wherever you go, you will find stories talking to each other. As a traveler, there is so much to see in this temple town on the banks of the Gomti River.The history of Dwarka pre-dates even the Mahabharat era. It has been a continuously inhabited place for the longest known time. Imagine the layers you can discover as you walk around this Dwarka City – best know known for temple tourism.

# Visit the Dwarkadhish Temple

People visit the city for this temple, so do visit this temple once in the morning and once in the evening.

# Watch the Flag Change at Dwarkadhish Temple

The 52-yard flag of Dwarkadhish temple is changed 5 times a day – thrice in the morning and twice in the evening. It is a spectacle to watch. The family sponsoring the flag brings the flag in a ceremonial procession – singing and dancing. The Guggali Brahmin climbs the Shikhara of the temple and changes the flag. There is a loud cheer as the fluttering flag comes out.

# Visit the Rukmini Temple

Rukmini is the reigning queen of Dwarka and Dwarkasdhish. Your visit to the city is not complete till you visit her too.

# Tulabhar

If you have read the Rukmini story, you know the origin of Tulabhar. If not, go read that first. As you walk along the Gomti River lined with many small temples, you would come across the large weighing balances hanging from the ceiling. You might see a person sitting on one scale and the grains on the other. This is Tulabhar – literally meaning weighing the grain for donation according to your weight.

When I entered one such temple, the priest looked at me and told me my exact weight and how much it would cost me to do a Tulabhar. I was stunned, that is some professional expertise. He then went on to explain to me the details of Tulabhar.

# Ride a camel on either bank of the Gomti River

One bank of Gomti is full of temples and ghats, the other is a sandy patch with a small beach next to it. You can ride a camel on either side of the Gomti.On the ghat side, the camel walks right next to the river. As I watched small children taking a ride, I was a bit scared but the children seem to be enjoying.

# Sunrise at Sudama Setu on Gomti River

This is one place where you can see a lovely sunrise and a stunning sunset – almost at the same place.For sunrise, there is no better place than standing at Sudama Setu – the cable bridge joining the two edges of the Gomti River. This relatively new bridge has been built by the Reliance group. It is ticketed, so you have to wait for the ticket window to open in the morning to use it.

# Sunset at the beach

The best place to see the sunset in Dwarka city is at the Badkeshwar Mahadev Temple. This is an ancient and small temple located on what must have been an island at some point in time. You can walk to this temple and have an unobstructed view of the sunset on the sea.

Sunset was beautiful, but when I looked back at the city from here, I could see it on the rocks. Yes, the city is on high rocks against which the sea waves keep hitting. At places, they have made a cave-like way through the rocks. It felt like the city is nibbling the rocks of Dwarka.