12th century idol of Lord Gopalakrishna found during excacation on areca farm in Belthangady taluk

MANGAKLURU: Temple ruins dating back 700 years have been found at Thekkaru Batrabailu in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada district. A 12th-century stone idol of Lord Gopalakrishna, the Panipeetha and foundation stones were found on government land, which had been earlier encroached, on Monday.

These archaeological remains were found at a depth of 15 feet. The presence of the idol was revealed during Prashnavali (Prashne Chinthana). The old Gopalakrishna temple is said to have been destroyed by Tipu Sultan hundreds of years ago. Recently, the land was reclaimed after the intervention of the local MLA and excavated. Following this, the people of the village have decided to build a big temple here.

Initially, when earth excavation was started on the areca farm, a few archaeological ruins and stone idols of Gods were found in some places. A stone idol of God Gopalakrishna, said to be of the 12th century, was found in the land which was under the possession of a Muslim man.

Locals used to say that there were temples in ancient times. Moreover, it was said that Lord Krishna appeared in the  dream of Bengaluru-based Lakshmana, who owns some land near Thekkaru, and hinted about the presence of the temple at the site.

Thus, the villagers formed the Gopalakrishna Temple Trust and started looking for ruins of the temple. But they could not pursue it vigorously as they did not know the exact location. Then years ago, a person named Lakshmana, based in Bengaluru, bought the land near Thekkaru. At this time, during Prashnavali, the villagers got a hint of a temple near Lakshmana’s land. But the land near Lakshmana’s belonged to Hamad Bava, a Muslim.

After checking the land records with the help of  Belthangady MLA Harish Poonja, a survey  was conducted and it was found that 25 cents of the land under Hamad Bava’s possession, where he had planted areca, was government land. The land has been taken over by the government and a request was made to the Deputy Commissioner to allot the land to the Gopalakrishna Temple Trust for construction of the temple.

Accordingly, the Deputy Commissioner had reserved the land for the construction of a temple under the Religious Endowment Department. Hamad Bava sold around 75 cents of land to the temple trust to build the temple.