Bilgi Jain temple and a well

Bilgi is a nondescript village on Siddapura – Kumta highway. I have travelled umpteen number of times on this stretch but never knew that this village had some great history. During my recent visit to my native place, my cousin showed some photos of a Jain temple, and I was surprised to hear that it was from Bilgi.

I add every such interesting place to my backlog. Interestingly, I was visiting Burude falls during that week, and Bilgi was on the way!! It was quickly added to the itinerary!!

Trikoota temple

We visited Bilgi while returning from Burude falls. With the help of locals, we could easily find the Jain Temple. I was surprised to see a well-maintained temple, thanks to the efforts from ASI. I could not see any information displayed about this temple, but a search on the Internet tells that it was a 10th-century temple built when Jainism was prominent in the area. The trikoota temple houses the idols of Parvanatha, Mahavira and Neminatha. The village was called as Swetapura during those days.

The temple complex was big. The temple has some simple but nice carvings. The carvings on some parts of the walls and ceiling was impressive. The inscription in Kannada was interesting to see, but we did not have the necessary skills to read it.

I talked with a local, and he informed me that there were a few more Jain basadis and old temples in the village. Most of them needed some walking. Unfortunately, I had no time that day. I decided to visit this place at a more relaxed phase. But before leaving the village, there was one more place to visit.

Golabavi

I was told about on old “well” in the village. It was just opposite the main road, but it was easy to miss!! The place turned out to be a big surprise. It looked like a normal well from outside, but when I put my head down, I saw some chambers inside the well!!

We found a way to go down into the chamber through a tunnel. The steps leading to the chamber looked dark and creepy. I was worried about limbless reptiles and scorpions. With the help of the phone torch, we went down. While the reptiles were absent during our visit, bats were present in good number. They have got a bad reputation these days, but we did not anticipate any harm from them!!

We felt that we were in a different world when we entered the chamber. The outside world felt very far!! The chamber was beautifully constructed, and the darkness gave a different perspective of the place. The ceilings had special work.

I was sad with the apathy displayed by the villagers. The place surrounding the well was not kept clean and rubbish was thrown into the well. They seemed to be oblivious of the history of their village. But I don’t think it is fair to blame them. This is the story at most places in India where there is a general disregard for nature and history.

Where is Bilgi?