Bilkha
Bilkha is a village in Junagadh Taluka of Junagadh district in Gujarat, India. Bilkha lies at the foot of the Girnar clump in the south-east corner.
According to a legend, Bilkha was the ancient Balisthan or residence of the legendary king Bali. It is situated about eighteen miles east of Vamansthali (the present Vanthali), the abode of Vamana.
During British period, it is owned by Kathis of the Vala tribe, a branch of the Jetpur house. It was originally belonged to and was inhabited by Khant Kolis who are still to be found there. In 1880s, Vala Kala Devdan was a its talukdar who had fourth class jurisdiction in his sole villages, and Valas Ala and Desa both sons of Bhima Sata, they each exercised sixth class jurisdiction in their sole villages. Bilkha itself was joint between the above-mentioned shareholders so it was managed by a thanadar subordinate to the Jetpur taluka court.
A spot called the dwelling of Sagalsha Sheth is in the village.
He was Vania of great purity of life. Shiva one day visited him in the garb of an ascetic, aghori to test his virtue and asked him to cut off the head of his only son Chelaiyo and together with his wife pound it in a mortar and then give it to him to eat. Sagalsha did not refuse to perform this terrible sacrifice, and his son also willingly gave up his life. Shiva seeing their sincerity,restored Chelaiyo to life, and granted them whatever they asked.
Many persons say that Sagalsha lived in the Shiyal Island and that he was the Raja of that place.
There is an ashram established by Nathuram Sharma, a saint.
The population according to the census of 1872 was 3327 and according to that of 1881-82, 3791 souls.
Bilkha is known for medium variety traditional wood work.
The legend of Sagalsha produced several folk-songs. It was a subject of 1978 Gujarati film Sheth Sagalsha.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Kathiawar. VIII. Printed at the Government Central Press, Bombay. 1884. pp. 401–402.
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