Bhangarh:Town of ghosts

I have heard about lot of ghost stories and all of them are based on some place like building, mansion etc. However, I had never got a chance to visit such a place. While in Narhat village (Alwar district, Rajasthan), I heard about a place called Bhangarh which is supposedly one of the most haunted places in India. Apparently it is quite a popular place.

One day, I got an opportunity to visit the place. It was a typical Rajasthan afternoon..a hot and sunny one when me along with Ayush and one local headed off to Bhangarh. Bhangarh is right next to Ajabgarh village(in Thanagazi block). The road to Ajabgarh-Bhangarh reminds you of the horror serials with bare trees lining up on both sides of road.

The actual area of Bhangarh is quite well preserved by ASI. A temple is situated at the entrance of the walled area after which ruins of the marketplace are located. The ruins clearly show that the kingdom had lot of shops. All these shops had similar architecture..and surprisingly, all these shops have been destroyed from same level..like someone has chopped them off from the top. The whole area has 3 temples and all of them are still intact. There is also a 4 storey palace, it used to be 7 stores high but now only 4 storeys remain. The palace lies in lap of hills and lots of bats (and probably some ghosts too) live in its rooms. From the top of palace, a beautiful view of the whole kingdom and the plains ahead can be seen. The area also has a garden with lot of plants. One can hear the wind gushing among the greenery. Overall, the site is quite well maintained.

The folklore has it that Bhangarh was once a prosperous town. The king and queen lived in the palace. There was a sadhu living on the nearby hilltop in his cottage. He liked the queen and wanted to get her. Once he gave some hair oil to a maid servant so as to apply it on the queen. The sadhu had done some magic on oil so that whosoever would use the oil would come in his cottage. The queen got suspicious of the oil and threw it on an arch of palace. The result was that the arch flew and landed over sadhu’s cottage. The sadhu was crushed and while dying, he cursed that Bhangarh will be destroyed in one night. All the people fled the place. All the buildings –except temples- in the town were destroyed overnight and ghosts started living there. The locals believe that if anyone goes to Bhangarh after the sunset, he/she won’t return. We heard this story from a number of locals. Apparently, earlier there was a Govt. of India signboard at this place saying that government is not responsible for anybody who enters the place after sunset but we did not find any such signboard.

We left the place well before evening but the memories of such a beautiful place will linger for long.