Bhangarh Fort in Rajasthan, India – Haunted and Hauntingly beautiful

Bhangarh Fort – history, royalty, wars, a one-sided love story, black magic and GHOSTS

Bhangarh fort! Let me tell you a story about it – a fairy-tale with a twist. This is a story of a beautiful princess. She lived in a majestic fort on a hill in Rajasthan. A poor magician nearby fell in love with her. And then the twist in the fairy-tale happens – the Princess doesn’t love him…

Read on to see what possibly happened and how you can visit this fort still… under certain conditions… The Government of India prohibits visitors from entering the fort after sunset and before sunrise. Reason? Ghosts roam the fort at night. And no one who has visited the fort at night has come out alive!

Yes, this place still exists! This is Bhangarh, a village in Alwar district of Rajasthan in North-western India. It is right next to the famous Sariska Tiger Reserve. The local name for the place is BhootiyaGarh or The Land of Ghosts. Less that about 2000 people live in the villages around the fort in Bhangarh, in mortal of the ghosts.

The History of Bhangarh

Bhangarh is a pre-historic settlement with some really old temples and havelis (traditional houses). The most famous sight here is the Bhangarh Fort.

In the 16^th century, the Kachwaha Rajput King of Amber Jaipur, Raja Bhagwant Das, established this town. He intended this to be the home of his second son, Madho Singh. His elder brother, Man Singh I, was a general in the Mughal Emperor Akbar’s army and one of Akbar’s fabled Navaratnas. After Madho Singh’s death, his son Chhatra Singh ruled the town. Chhatra Singh died in 1630 and post that, Bhangarh’s decline started.

Ajab Singh, the son of Chhatra Singh build a fort called Ajabgarh nearby – he attacked Bhangarh after Chhatra Singh’s death and killed his step-sister Ratnavati and her army.

Subsequently in the Mughal empire, Aurangzeb died and the Mughals grew weaker. In 1720, Raja Jai Singh II, a neighboring King and son of Raja Man Singh, annexed Bhangarh into his territory. And then came the final nail in the coffin – the famine of 1783. Since then the town has been deserted till recent times.

The Legends of Bhangarh

The curse of an unfulfilled promise

Guru Balu Nath was a hermit who lived in a cave nearby and spent his time in isolation and meditation. Even now, there is a small stone hut called Tantric ki Chhatri nearby. When King Madho Singh wanted to expand his fort, the hermit took a promise from the King that he wouldn’t be disturbed by it. We Indians are even now quite prone to hyperbole and drama. Imagine how we would have been then…  😉

Young Madho promised old Balu that even the shadow of this new fort wouldn’t fall on his cave. Of course, the Sun had other ideas – in winter, the shadows grew longer and touched the cave. An incensed Balu Nath, the hermit, cursed the town and its people that they would never be able to put a roof to their house. It is said that even now, every time a house is built here, the roof collapses…

I like the other story which speaks of a tragic, one-sided love story.

The curse of unrequited love

The beautiful Princess Ratnavati of Bhangarh was the daughter of King Chhatra Singh. Nearby was a Tantric (one who specializes in Black Magic) called Singhia. He was in love with the Princess. Unfortunately, it was one-sided. Once, he met Ratnavati’s maid buying perfume in the market. He performed black magic on the perfume. The minute the Princess used the perfume, she would be attracted to him. Ratnavati found out about this and threw the bottle out of the window. The bottle broke on a boulder, which got attracted to the tantric, rolled over to him and crushed him. Before his death, he cursed Chhatra Singh, his family and the locals.

The next year, the fort was attacked by the Mughals (or was it her step-brother Ajab Singh?) and Ratnavati was killed along with the others in the fort. The legend is that the soul of the Tantric roams the fort in search of Ratnavati at night…

Bhangarh Fort now

The Fort is protected on 3 sides by the Aravali mountains. There are 5 gates with one being the Main Gate. After the Main Gate, are a few temples (Hanuman, Ganesh, etc.) with lovely carvings still visible, the priest’s quarters, a market-place and the dancers’ house (Naachne ki Haveli). After this is the main fort area with the Queen’s residence. They are all in ruins of course, but one can imagine how it would have been once… Now, it is spooky with massive banyan trees growing all over and through the ruins. The only structure in somewhat better shape is the Someshwar Temple. Look out for the beautiful step well here. The fort itself is in complete ruins – all 3 storeys of it.

The place does exude a strange menace when one enters. But maybe that is because of the stories one is fed with about the place. I haven’t visited it at night, but from what I hear, it is fairly spooky. Especially certain parts of the fort like the residence area of the Queen.

The Bhangarh Fort is reputed to be haunted. Ghost stories, real and imagined, abound. There have been stories of paranormal activity within the fort at night – sounds of laughter, music, dance, killing, etc., coming from the ruins. Its these stories that make it such an enticing place to visit… There are also many stories of folks who went in there at night never returning, or being killed in mysterious circumstances, etc.

In fact, even the Government seems to agree with the stories of haunting, if the rules are anything to go by.

The Rules of visiting Bhangarh

The fort is under the ASI (Archeological Survey of India), a Government of India organization. An ASI signboard at the gate of the fort specifies the law that there shall be no entry allowed in the Fort before sunrise and after sunset. Even the villagers aren’t allowed to graze their animals after sunset!

Hence you can only visit the fort between 6 am and 6 pm.

How to get there

Bhangarh is close to Jaipur – about 70 kilometers away by road. It is less than 250 kms from Delhi. The closest airport is Jaipur. Bhan Kari and Dausa are the closest train stations. Or maybe get off the train at Alwar and take a taxi. There are lots of buses too, up to the nearest village – Gola ka Bas.

I would suggest stay in Jaipur and do a day trip to Bhangarh by car or bus. And don’t forget to visit the Ajabgarh fort nearby. Jaipur has lots of things to do… Maybe even a visit to Sariska and try catching a glimpse of a tiger in the wild…

Avoid the summers when visiting – it gets very hot. The best time to go is end-October to end-February. And, try and avoid weekends and holidays – it tends to fill up with lots of local tourists.

In case you are keen on travel to India and more specifically, travel to Rajasthan you could take a look at this immersive itinerary of Rajasthan. You could easily add on a Bhangarh day-trip from Jaipur to this itinerary.

Read about some of the other interesting places in Mysterious India. Or maybe the significant places in the history of India?

India is a many-faceted country. It celebrates the mysterious, cultural, natural, wildlife, spiritual and more… Here is some more information on these facets of India, to help you travel beyond the regular tours and packages to India.

And if you are looking to have interesting experiences around India, Asia, Europe or Africa, visit Beyonder Travel.