Kon: बिचोलिम bicholim
‘Bright Village’ [Dicholi] Town, Goa
From Skt: dīpa(ka), ‘bright’, ‘beautiful’, ‘shining’; and Kan: halli/valli →oli, ‘village’; Skt: viṣaya, ‘kingdom’, ‘province’.
This place-name has three linguistic variants: (1) Por: Bicholim; (2) Mar: Dicholi; and (3) Kon: Divchal. Bicholim is a Portuguese corruption of Dicholi (and the final -m indicates that the preceding vowel is nasalized)
There is a 10th century reference to the village as Bhaktagram or Bhattgram [‘Rice Village’, from Kon: bhat, ‘rice’; and Skt: grāma, ‘village’] and Bicholim has also appeared as Dipaka Vishaya and Bhatgram Dicholi.
Over a third of the Bicholim population works for the De Souza iron ore mine (now owned by Vedanta). The mine has had a serious environmental impact, particularly on local rivers and farms which have been polluted with a toxic mixture of iron, lead and manganese. This contamination of all things bright and beautiful in Bicholim has resulted in a series of legal suspensions.
Bicholim Taluka Inshaanshah62
