Tsunami that Arjuna saw

“The sea, which had been beating against the shores, suddenly broke the boundary that was imposed on it by nature. The sea rushed into the city. It coursed through the streets of the beautiful city. The sea covered up everything in the city. Even as they were all looking, the beautiful buildings were submerged one by one. In a matter of a few moments it was all over. The sea had now become as placid as a lake”. Is this the description of tsunami of Dec 26 as seen through the eyes of a lucky survivor in Phuket?

No, this is the account of the submergence of the ancient city of Dwaraka, as described by Arjuna, in the Mahabharata! On a recent visit to Dwaraka, I was captivated by the benign and calm look of the sea. It made me wonder, if this was the same sea that caused havoc and wiped out the magnificent city of Dwaraka.

Allegories to so many of our modern scientific discoveries can be found in our ancient texts – the story of usage of brahmastra resulting in arid and infertile land seems so similar to the use of nuclear weapons. The story of birth of 101 Kauravas, incubated in earthern pots, seems so similar to the concept of test tube babies. And yet, when it comes to something resembling a tsunami, people were caught off guard then, so similar to today! This proves that even gods and goddesses appear to have been helpless in predicting the fury of Mother Nature. We, lesser mortals, are debating about spending billions of dollars in setting up tsunami warning in the Indian ocean, on the lines of the pacific rim tsunami warning!