On the Gujarat coast, where the Gomti stream meets the Arabian Sea, stands the Dwarkadhish temple — the Jagat Mandir — where Krishna is worshipped as Dwarkadhish, the King of Dwarka. The Mahabharata and the Harivamsa tell how Krishna, leaving Mathura to protect his people from the repeated assaults of Jarasandha, raised a magnificent city from the sea with the help of the divine architect Vishwakarma and ruled from it as king. The Bhagavata Purana relates that after Krishna completed his earthly mission, the city was reclaimed by the ocean.
Tradition holds that the original shrine, over Krishna's own residence the Hari-griha, was built by his great-grandson Vajranabha. The soaring five-storied temple, upheld by seventy-two carved pillars and crowned by a great flag changed five times a day, is one of the four Char Dham established by Adi Shankaracharya — who founded here the Sharada Peetha — as well as one of the Sapta Puri, the seven cities that grant liberation, and a Divya Desam sung by the Alvars.
Pilgrims enter by the Swarga Dwara and descend the fifty-six steps to the Gomti ghat, drawn to the eternal kingdom of Sri Krishna on the western sea, where his flag is said to fly for as long as the sun and moon endure.
The flag above the Dwarkadhish temple is changed by hand several times a day, and the right to offer it is booked by families far in advance.
Source: Dwarkadhish temple administration, Devbhoomi Dwarka
