Bhilleshwar is a village in Ranavav Taluka of

Porbandar district Porbandar district is one of the 33 districts of Gujarat state in western India. The district covers an area of 2,316 km2. It had a population of 5.85,449 of which 48.77% were urban as of the 2011 census. This district was carved out of Juna ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, India.

Geography

Bhilleshwar is located near to the village of Ashiyapat, and east of the Barda hill on the banks of the Bhilleshvari river. The river called

Bhil Bhil or Bheel refer to the various Indigenous peoples, indigenous groups inhabiting western India, including parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and are also found in distant places such as Bengal and Tripura. Though they now speak the Bhili ...

Ganga The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary riv ...

rises in the Barda hills, and flows past this village and joins the Minsar river near

Khirsara Khirasara is an archaeological site belonging to the Indus Valley civilization. This site is located in Nakhatrana Taluka of Kutch district in the western Indian state of Gujarat, on the bank of Khari river, from Bhuj, the district headquart ...

Demographics

The population of Bileshwar by the census of 1872 was 172, but it was increased to 211 souls in 1881. According to the 2011 Census of India, the population had grown to 1,748 by 2011, divided over 364 households living on 522

hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. A ...

of land.

Places of interest

Bileshwar Mahadev temple

Bileshwar Mahadev temple is a fine temple sacred to

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

, of some antiquity, and in excellent preservation. The Rabaris of the neighbouring states and villages have much faith in this Mahadev and many vows are made to the shrine, several lamps of ''

ghee Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from South Asia. It is commonly used for cooking, as a Traditional medicine of India, traditional medicine, and for Hinduism, Hindu religious rituals. Description Ghee is typically prepared by ...

'' are constantly burning here; one of these was kept up at the cost of the Rana of Porbandar. ;History

Porbandar State Porbandar State was a princely state during the British Raj ruled by Jethwa dynasty. It was one of the few princely states with a coastline.It was a first class Princely State with 13 Gun Slaute, standing fourth in rank among the Principalit ...

had endowed this shrine with some land, and

Navanagar State Nawanagar was an Indian state and then a princely state in the historical Halar region, located on the southern shores of the Gulf of Kutch. It was ruled by the Jadeja, Jadeja Rajput dynasty and became a part of newly formed India. Its capital ...

had granted it the village of Sajdiali in ''dharmada'' or religious tenure. The Rabaris and

Charans Charan (IAST: Cāraṇ; Sanskrit: चारण; Gujarati: ચારણ; Sindhi: چارڻ; IPA: cɑːrəɳə) is a caste in South Asia natively residing in the Rajasthan and Gujarat states of India, as well as the Sindh and Balochistan prov ...

of the neighbouring districts used give one day's churning of butter to the shrine yearly, and the ''Bava'' of the temple goes to collect it even as far as Okhamandal. ;Legends It is said that a Muslim army once captured the village and attempted to break the ling, but the ling burst of itself and hundreds of wasps issued therefrom and put the army to flight after killing many of them. The origin of the Bileshwar Mahadev is attributed to

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

. It seems that

Satyabhama Satyabhama (IAST'': Satyabhāmā)'' , also known as Satrajiti, is a Hindu goddess and the third queen consort of the Hindu god Krishna. Satyabhama is described as an incarnation of Bhumi, an aspect of Lakshmi. She is the goddess and the per ...

, one of Krishna's wives, asked him to procure for her the ''parijatak'' tree which only grows in

Indra Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes Indra is the m ...

's garden. Krishna sent Narad muni to bring the tree from Indra, but he refused to part with it and challenged Krishna to fight with him. Krishna went to the garden where the tree was growing and took it. Fighting now ensued in heaven between Indra and Krishna, but when the sun set both the combatants rested on the Pariyatra mountain which is now called Barda hill. In the morning Krishna offered prayers to

and the goddess issued out of a cave and was named by Krishna ''Bil-Ganga''. Krishna now adored Shiva who instantly appeared and was much pleased with Krishna's worship and promised to fulfil his desires. Krishna then installed him at that spot and named him Bilvadakeshvar which has since been corrupted to Bileshwar. Others say that Krishna adored Shiv here with great devotion for seven months, and as he used to strew ''bili'' leaves on the symbol he called it Bileshwar. ;Fairs Three fairs are annually held here, one on the last day of the dark half of

Shraavana Śrāvaṇa () is the fifth month of the Hindu calendar. In India's national civil calendar, Śrāvaṇa is the fifth month of the year, typically beginning in mid to late July and ending in late August. In the Tamil calendar, it is known as ...

in August, another on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month of Maha (the

Shivaratri Maha Shivaratri is a Hindu festival celebrated annually to worship the deity Shiva, between February and March. According to the Hindu calendar, the festival is observed on the fourteenth day of the first half (night start with darkness - ...

), and a third on the eighth of the dark half of Shravan, when hundreds of people assemble here to worship the Mahadev.

References

{{coord missing, Gujarat Villages in Porbandar district