Bhalka Tirth

Getting there

• By air

  Keshod airport is 52 km away and the closest of the three. Porbandar and Rajkot airports are further, at 120 km and 200 km.

• By train

  Veraval Junction is the nearest station, 2.3 km by road from the temple.

• By road

  Buses run to the temple from Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot and Dwarka.

Why devotees come here

Bhalka Tirth stands in the coastal city of Veraval in Gir Somnath district, Gujarat. Its main shrine holds an idol of Krishna in a semi-reclining position. Devotees believe this is where Krishna ended his earthly life.

The temple marks the place where Krishna is believed to have ended his earthly life and gone to his spiritual abode. Legend says a hunter named Jara mistook Krishna's foot for a hidden deer and shot an arrow from a distance. The Bhagavata Purana and the Mahabharata record this episode. The temple commemorates the moment when the poacher Jara mistakenly hit Krishna with his arrow.

Shri Vallabhacharya gave nine full days of discourses on the Bhagavad Gita here. The temple is known as Mahaprabhuji's Bethak, and a tulsi tree has been planted in Krishna's honour.

The main Krishna temple is built in sandstone, and banyan trees dot its courtyard. Inside, a tribhangi idol shows Krishna playing his flute, and the main shrine holds a semi-reclining idol. Bhalka is in Veraval, a coastal city in Gir Somnath district. The best time to visit is November to February, and during Janmashtami. Somnath Temple, another important Hindu pilgrimage site in the city, is just 4 km away.

Tips for your visit

• Somnath Temple is about 4 km away, in the same city.
• The temple is also known as Mahaprabhuji's Bethak.

Questions people ask