MV Dwarka was a British India Steam Navigation Company passenger and cargo ship that operated between the Indian subcontinent and Persian Gulf.

She was the third BI ship to be named after Dwarka, an ancient city of religious significance in the state of Gujarat, on India's northwest coast.

[8] She had a single screw, driven by a Doxford five-cylinder opposed piston two-stroke diesel engine.

She and her sisters were described as "ships of transport, cargo plus passengers – comfortable but not luxurious, dependable but not speedy – appropriately functional for their time".

[10] Dwarka entered service in June 1947, joining Dumra on BI's route between Bombay (now Mumbai) and the Persian Gulf.

The resident Royal Navy officer in Bahrain, Commander Roger Fisher, was also aboard, and rescued bin Ibrahim from the cabin.

[6] During the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965, Dwarka met another BI motor ship, Santhia, in Muscat to exchange passengers.

In 1979 the BBC made a television documentary as part of the series The World About Us called "Dwarka: An Arabian Voyage".

[6] It documented a voyage from Mumbai, calling at Karachi, taking migrant workers to countries in the Persian Gulf.

This illustrated the ship's unique historic status, and reportedly prompted renewed interest in her from around the world.

[citation needed] In 1981 Richard Attenborough's biographical film Gandhi used Dwarka for several location shoots in Mumbai,[6] portraying much earlier BI ships.