Dwarkadhish Temple

Dwarka is one of the char dham, the four cardinal pilgrimage sites of Hinduism, and its Dwarkadhish temple, dedicated to Krishna as ruler of his legendary submerged city, is the anchor of that circuit on India's west coast. The current structure dates largely to the 15th–16th centuries, built over an older sanctum that inscriptional and archaeological evidence suggests existed considerably earlier, with the site's identification as Krishna's capital debated among historians even as it remains fixed in devotional geography. Architecturally it follows a tall Nagara form rising in five storeys on 72 pillars, distinguished externally by its immense flag, replaced several times a day and visible for kilometres along the coastline. Marine archaeological surveys off Dwarka's coast, searching for submerged structures linked to the Krishna legend, have added a layer of ongoing scholarly interest to a site otherwise defined by continuous, unbroken pilgrimage practice.