01Jara’s arrow
The Mausala Parva of the Mahabharata and the eleventh skandha of the Bhagavata tell it. After the Yadavas destroyed one another at Prabhasa, Krishna sat under a peepal in yoga, one foot resting on the other knee. The hunter Jara saw the pink sole from a distance, took it for a deer’s face, and shot. Running up, he found the four-armed Bhagwan and fell at his feet; Krishna comforted him and sent him to heaven, then left this world. Bhalka takes its name from the bhalla, the arrowhead.
02The shrine today
A white temple stands round an old peepal; inside, a marble Krishna reclines with his foot raised, and a kneeling Jara with folded hands faces him. The Shree Somnath Trust looks after it as part of the Prabhas circuit, with Dehotsarga on the Hiran river nearby, where the last rites were done, and the Triveni Sangam. Kali Yuga, by the traditional reckoning, began with Krishna’s departure in 3102 BCE.
The life of this place
- 3102 BCE (traditional reckoning)Shri Krishna departs from Prabhasa; Kali Yuga begins.
Bhalka is about 5 km from the Somnath temple on the Veraval road; autos run between the Prabhas sites.
