Yelu Math

 
From Sri Siddeshwar temple of Bilgi, When we climb the hillock towards north, there is a police wireless station, Maal Gamba, tomb of Baba saab and at a distance towards south-west, there is Yelu Math or Elu math. Very nice place for meditation. We need to trek for around 4-5 kilometers to reach this place... You can see the way how it looks:

There are two ways to reach this place. One was mentioned above from Shree Siddeshwar temple. And the other one is from behind Shree Siddeshwar school enroute to Nagaral thanda or Koppar padevva temple. By any means we have to trek around 5-6 kms inside the hill.

From long distance itself it looks like a white house in the hill:

When you go inside the temple you see seven doors hence the name Yelu Math. In kannada Seven means Yelu- Elu. This temple is of three floors. When you enter, its actually the middle floor. There is a small square which will take you to the ground floor. You need to enter and go down there to see Shivalingam.. Thats the actual place to visit and meditate.

 

In the ground floor there is a place for the meditation. It's really awesome. If you visit Bilgi, don't miss to visit Yelu math. We have captured a video of the whole Elu math. Please see it to experience this awesome architecture. Also when you trek to this place inside the hill, it a thrilling experience.

Amirbai Karnataki

Bilagi, a beautiful place with the above said historical evidences has become a birthplace or a place for their prosperity in their profession and career. Several eminents, who served as Administrators, Artists, Doctors, Scientists, Professors, Freedom Fighters, Swamiji, Industrialist, Educationists, Novelist, Poets, Linguists, etc. are from Bilagi.

Amirbai Karnataki (c. 1906 – 3 March 1965) was a famous actress/singer and playback singer of the early Hindi cinema and was famous as Kannada Kokila. Mahatma Gandhi was an ardent fan of her song Vaishnav Jan To.^[1]

Husainsaab and Ameenaabi's daughter Amirbai Karnataki, who was born in Bilagi in the decade of the nineteenth century (1906) had four sisters and a brother. When all of these were still children, Husainsaab passed away. As a result, Ameenaabi's brother Hatailsaheb began looking after this family. This family was also referred to as the Tummarmatti family because Ameenaabi was from Tummarmatti a village near Bilgi.

The children of this household could only manage a rudimentary education in Bilagi. Due to the family's musical heritage, Amirbai developed a growing interest in dramas and excelled in both singing and acting. Savayi Gandharva saw this rarity in a personality and invited her to work for his company. Accordingly, the entire family was shifted to Vijayapur. People admired Ameerbai after appreciating her melodic voice and lively action, other theatre companies gave her a red carpet welcome as well.  The name and fame of Amirbai (Ameerbai) made her to enter into cinema field and shifted her residence to Mumbai. 

Because of her melodious voice, she could sing in Hindi, Urdu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, etc. She played prime roles in several cinemas. She was kind and generous lady and Ameer theatre in Vijayapur is the reminiscence of this great artist.

Goharbai Karnataki or Miss Gohar of Bijapur was the sister of Amirbai, who also acted in lot films and Sung lot of songs in differernt languages.

Amirbai Karnataki has sung lot of songs, some of them are:

• "O' Jaanay Waalay Balamwa Laut Kay Aa Laut Kay Aa" Sung by Amirbai Karnataki and Shyam Kumar, lyrics by D. N. Madhok and music by Naushad Ali in the film Rattan (1944)^[4]
• "Dheere Dheere Aa Re, Baadal", from the film Kismat (1943)
• "Priya madhuvanadali", a Kannada song, sung by Amirbai, which is so popular all over Karnataka even today

She had a paralytic attack in 1965, died just four days later, and was buried in Bilgi. Still "Amir Talkies" in the city of Vijayapura (Bijapur), run by her family. 

Songs Playlist from Wynk of Amirbai:

https://wynk.in/u/kQ21P8AYE 

Tribute to AmirBai Karnataki from Radio Ceylon:
 

Koppar Padevva Temple

On the route from Bilgi to Nagaral Tanda, there is the Koppar Padevva temple. Sri Koppar Padevva temple is located 3-5 kilometres from Siddeshwar School on a little road that leads to Nagaral Tanda...

Koppar means in Kannada, a hill top. hence the name. Deity is Padevva. So the temple is known as Koppar Padevva temple.

It is situated between the hills. Very scenery place. You can go through the snaps below. You can see Sindhur Lakxman's death place also there. You can see a very nice statue of Sri Hanuman there in the temple. 

In rainy season you can find lot of water falls around this temple. This temple is as situated in between the hills, there are no nearby persons or sounds.. It's a place for meditation. Lot of sadhu's and sants will be meditating around this place.. People of Bilgi usually visit this temple on Amavasya and Hunnimme days. There will be a fair there on Bharat Hunnimme day here. 

Shree Siddeshwar Jatre

The Shree Siddeshwar fair, also known as Siddwshwar Jatre, takes place on the last Monday of Hindus' auspicious month of Shraavan.

On each day of this Shraavan maas-Month at Bilgi, a group of people perform Nagar Sankeertane and Bhajana in the early morning hours. They leave from the Shree Siddeshwar temple, travel across all of Bilgi, and return to the temple around six in the morning.

The Shree Siddeshwar temple is frequently visited by Bilgi residents, especially during this month. Every Monday is also unique since Shiva is believed by Hindus to be associated with this day. 

Because the last Monday of the Shravan Month is considered auspicious, a special Pooja is performed to Shree Siddeshwar and a fair or Jatre is held on this day. Morning Sankeertane will be present on this day. People also come to the temple to pray and perform Pooja for Shree Siddeshwar. The Kalasa of Shree Siddeshwar will be carried in procession through the streets of Bilgi beginning in the morning. When Kalasa appears in front of people's homes, they decorate it with flowers, garland and perform pooja.

Some pictures of Kalasa:

After the Kalasa procession returns to Shree Siddeshawar temple in the evening, a Rathostava-chariot will pull out in front of the temple. A large crowd is expected. More than 25,000 to 30,000 people gather to watch and pull this chariot. Ratha or Chariot is festooned with flowers and flags. Some images and videos of the Rathostava as below:

Some more videos and images of Jatre- Fair:

There will be numerous stalls, hotels, toy stores, snack shops, and so on. People go to the fair with their families and friends to watch the Rastostav from the hills. They all eat snacks, visit the stalls, and play with the toys. People throw dry dates on the Chariot while Ratostav is going on. There are a lot of processions going on. It's an electrifying atmosphere throughout the town.. 

After this day, the kalasa will return to its original location with a large procession and fireworks.

On this Jatre- Fair occasion, they organise a variety of sports, plays, and other events throughout the town.  Temple and the town is decorated with lof lightings, flowers etc 

Some more images and videos: