Place |
Month |
Deity/Saint |
No of days |
Approximate attendence |
Panth Balekundri |
october |
Datta Maharaj |
3 |
25,000 |
Saundatti |
April-May November-December |
Yellamma Devi |
3 |
1 lakh |
Handi Badaganatha |
February(shivaratri) |
Kalabhairava |
2 |
50,000 |
Chinchli |
February |
Mayakka |
1 |
1 lakh |
Belgaum, ancient 'Venugrama' ('Bamboo village') is the district and divisional
headquarters. It was the capital of the Rattas who shifted to this place from Saundatti
during the close of 12th century. The place has a fort inside which there is the famous
Kamalabasti built by one Ratta Officer called Bichiraja in 1204. It has a fine huge
protruding lotus (Kamala) in its ceiling and this beautiful structure in Chalukyan style
houses Neminatha Teerthankara image. The place came under the Sevunas (Yadavas) and
V.ijayanagara and 1ater conquered by Mahamood Gawan in 1474 on behalf of the Bahmanis. The
fort was strengthened by the Adilshahis and there is an excellent structure, Safa Mosque
with three entrances with floral and calligraphis designs. Two of its pillars have Kannada
inscriptions in Nagari scripts, one of 1199 of Ratta King Kartaveerya IV and another of
1261 if of Sevuna (Yadava) Krishna. The Persian Inscription here states that the mosque
was built by Asad Khan, Bijapur Commander. The Jamia Masjid in the fort was built by Sher
Khan in 1585-86. There is a dargah of Khanjar Wali near it. Belgaum later came under the
Mughuls (who called it Azamnagar) and the Maratha till its conquest by the British in
1818. The the British founded their Cantonment here and they made it the head-quaters of
Maratha Light Infantry. The St.Mary's Chruch here was built in 1869. The Maruthi temples
here is quite vast and has some antiquities of Chalukyan times. The fort has Chalukyan
Pillars spread all over. The Kapileshwar temple in Shahpur area was of Chalukyan times,
now totally renovated. Shapur a suburb of Belgaum was in Sangli State; Wadgaon, another
suburb was a separate state called Junior Kurundwad. Near Wadgaon, a Shatavahana
settlement with the head of stucco Buddha figure have been excavated. Belgaum has a City
Corporation. It is a place with pleasant weather. It played a leading part in the freedom
movement. The Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College here has a highly educative pathology
museum.
