Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India

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ARCHAEOLOGY

building obstructing the view of the famous temple of Dwar-

akadhish at Dwaraka noted for Krishna worship was demolished

and to everyone’s surprise a beautiful temple of Vishnu assignable

to 9th century A.D. was uncovered. Its roof was damaged by the

sea, but the walls, and plinth were preserved by the sand deposit.

This discovery acted as an incentive to dig deeper anti trace earlier

remains of temples and townships if any. Further excavation

brought to light the remains of two more temples. The lower one

was datable to 1st century B.C. and the upper one to 2nd-4th

century A.D. on the basis of ceramic and numismatic evidence,

especially the coins known as

Karshapanas.

Further digging up to

10m depth exposed debris of a protohisotric settlement in which a

distinct pottery known as the Lustrous Red Ware was also found.

Similar pottery occurring in Prabhasa (Somnath), another Ma-

habharata site on the southern coast of Saurashtra, has been as-

signed to the 15th-12th century B.C. The wave-rolled pottery

found in the lowest level of the trench at Dwaraka suggested that

the proto-historic settlement here was destroyed by the sea. This

unambiguous archaeological evidence on shore increased the pos-

sibility of finding the remains of the submerged city of Dwaraka of

the

Mahabharata

period in the sea. The oceanographers were also

keen to ascertain the cause of submergence of the city. If it was

due to a rise in sea level the rate of rise could be determined more

accurately on the basis of

in situ

archaeological finds. Thus began

the search for the lost city of Dwaraka. The Department of Science

and Technology, and the National Institute of Oceanography came

forward to support a project for marine archaeological investiga-

tions in Dwaraka and elsewhere. The National Institute of Ocean-

ography (NIO) Goa, has been providing the logistic support. The

Archaeological Survey of India has been extending financial assis-

tance at times.

Before the Marine Archaeologist ventures to search for sub-

merged cities he must study the bathymetry, geology and topogra-

phy of the zone. The NIO scientists have noted a low stand of the

sea in the Gulf of Kutch 10,000 years ago. The Marine Archaeo-

logical Centre (MAC) in NIO under the direction of S.R. Rao

started exploring the Bet Dwaraka island in the Gulf of Kutch

because

Harivamsa

and other texts say that Dwaraka was a

Varidurga

‘fortress in water’. It is said to have been built in the sea

‘

Udadhimadhyastham

. In the first instance the surf zone of Bet

Dwaraka was excavated and simultaneously the Arabian Sea off

Dwaraka was also explored from 1982 through 1991. At both the

places ancient structures submerged by the sea have been found.

Modern Underwater Search Technique

Swimline technique had to be adopted-by the diver-archaeolo-

gists of MAC for surveying manually an area of 1.5 X 0.5 km

seaward of the temple of Sea God (Samudranarayana) at Dwar-

aka, and the operation was limited to 15 m depth. In 1989 the side

scan sonar, profiler, echo sounder and magneto meter surveys sup-

plemented manual and optical surveys for locating the structures

and studying the bathymetry. Photographs were taken with

Nikonos V underwater camera and video films have been produced

by deploying OSPREY underwater T.V. camera. In Bet Dwaraka

the visibility is very poor, but slightly better in the Arabian Sea off

Dwaraka. Initially fishing trawlers were engaged. From 1987

onward well-equipped modern research vessels

Vedhavati

and

Sea Master

were chartered. Ex-navy divers were trained in under-

water photography and excavation and subsequently Srinivas

Bandodkar, an expert diver-photographer, trained five qualified

archaeologists namely Dr. K. Rajan, Mr P. Gudigar, Mr. Sundaresh,

Mr. Sila Tripati, Mr. A.S. Gaur and Mr. Alok Tripathi in underwater

exploration and photography. Mr. Y.D. Sharma, Mr. U.S. Shirsat

and Mr. Sheikh Ali photographers, received training in diving and

underwater photography. The MAC is now equipped for full

fledged underwater excavation and retrieval of objects.

Geophysical Survey

The latest target search techniques involving the use of the

Echo Sounder, Mud penetrator or Sub-bottom profiler and side

scan sonar for identifying shipwrecks and submerged structures

have been adopted by the MAC. The position-fixing of the struc-

tures is done with the help of the electronic system namely Motor-

ola Miniranger III and from 1990 onwards the Global Position

Fixing System (GPS) is used. The Mini Ranger works in C band on

a line of sight principle. The mobile station installed temporarily in

the Research Vessel transmits microwave signals and the base

stations in Dwarakadhish Temple and the lighthouses at Dwaraka

and Kacchigadh receive these signals and retransmit them. These

signals are in turn received by the station (Mini Ranger) on board

the vessel. The time elapsed is converted by the Range Console

into distances that are displayed. The position of the ship thus

determined is noted as position of the buoy marking the structure or

any other archaeological object lying on sea bed. The GPS gives

more accurate location using satellite data.

For obtaining a plan view of the seabed, geological features and

anomalies which may be man-made features, the side scan sonar is

used The system is based on the back scattering property of the

sea bed. The towed transducers on either side located in the

“fish” (fig:38) enclosure transmit and receive sonar signals to and

from the seabed. As the transducer moves forward through the

water along with the vessel successive strips produce a map of the

seabed on either side of the recorded track of the sonar. Because of

the angle of the sonar that strikes the objects on the sea bed there

will be delay beyond the object before the sound strikes the seabed.

This produces a white shadow behind the strong signal allowing the

height of the object to be calculated. Sub-bottom profiler is useful

in detecting objects and sites buried in compact sediments such as

sand. A boomer or sparker should be the energy transmitting

source. The signals

from these sources

induce deeper pene-

tration. Lower fre-

quencies are useful

for obtaining better

penetration

the

sediments

sub-

bottom

formations

and those buried in

unconsolidated

sedi-

ments, but the prob-

lem is that the fea-

tures

are

recorded

only when the instru-

ment passes directly

over the object.