Bhangarh ” The ‘most haunted’ place in India “

Bhangarh ” The story behind … most abandoned places in India “

How many of us believe in ghosts? Do they actually exist? Can they be felt? Believers will reply in affirmative and non-believers will perish the thought. But everybody would like to take a trip to THE den of the ghosts and such was the trip to Bhangarh, considered India’s “most haunted” place.

According to legend, the city of Bhangarh was cursed by the Baba Balnath. He had sanctioned the construction of the town on one condition, “The moment the shadows of your palaces touch me, the city shall be no more!” When a descendant prince raised the palace to a height that cast a shadow on Balanath’s forbidden retreat, he cursed the town. Balanath is said to be buried there to this day in a small samadhi.

Another myth is related to the Princess of Bhangarh, Ratnavati. She was believed to be the jewel of Rajasthan. On her eighteenth birthday she began to get offers of marriage from other regions (i.e. nobility). In Bhangarh lived a tantrik (wizard), a magician well versed in the occult, called Singhiya, who was in love with the princess but knew that the match was impossible. One day Singhiya saw the princess’s maid in the market and used his black magic on the scent she was purchasing so that upon touching it the princess would surrender herself to him. The princess, however, seeing the tantrik enchanting the scent, foiled his plan by pouring it on boulder which crushed Singhiya. Dying, the tantrik cursed the palace with the death of all who dwelt in it.^[6] The next year there was a battle between Bhangarh and Ajabgarh in which Princess Ratnavati perished. Legends says that there are ghosts of Singhiya and other locals in Bhangarh Fort and that is why entry is prohibited for tourists in the fort after sunset and before sunrise.^[6] The locals believe that the princess Ratnavati has taken birth somewhere else and that the fort and the empire of Bhangarh is waiting for her return to put an end to the curse.