Kuldhara – an abandoned village near Jaisalmer
Join me as we head on an eerie trail to Kuldhara, a haunted abandoned village near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. Rajasthan has its share of spooky tales and ghost towns in India like Bhangarh Fort, which is the most haunted fort in India, but Kuldhara is no less sinister.
Monsoons in the desert in Jaisalmer
You do not wake up every day to the news of roads being flooded in Jaisalmer. And cooped inside the palatial fortress in Suryagarh, watching the monsoon rains drench the desert from my window, I was longing to step out and soak in the atmosphere. And that is when I heard about the legend of the Paliwal Brahmins. Set 200 years ago, it was the story of a community who had vanished overnight, leaving behind a ghost village to narrate their tale. A haunted trail to a village called Kuldhara near Jaisalmer was organised by Suryagarh at night, but it was tempting to explore the abandoned village during the day as well .https://youtu.be/pEoU7FHhPa8
On the way to Kuldhara
A constant drizzle followed us on the road but it was magical to feel the rush of monsoons in the deserts. We saw an oasis almost everywhere as water gushed through low lying lands and flooded the roads. Dark low hanging clouds pregnant with rain took over the sky. The parched desert was only too willing to embrace the downpour. And the locals were celebrating, as we met a few on the roads, who were rushing to their homes for a sumptuous lunch.
A temple in the haunted Kuldhara Village
The desert looked bewitching but here we were on an eerie trail .We took a detour and reached Kuldhara . An old man dressed in white, sporting a long flowing grey beard surfaced out of nowhere, looking almost like an apparition himself. He had an ageless feel about him . The wrinkles around his face and his sunken eyes seemed to tell a story of their own, but he was more interested in narrating the tale of the Paliwal Brahmins who used to live here in the 18th century.
The legend of Kuldhara
The Paliwals were harassed by the local Samant or the ruler and were paying huge amounts of money in the form of taxes to them. But one fine day, the ruler apparently set his eyes on one of the girls in the community, possibly the Chief’s daughter . The Paliwals were given no choice in the matter and they had just a day to accept his proposal. Overcome by remorse and in desperation, the entire community left their homes and hearths behind, cursing the king and escaped in the death of the night .
Kuldhara village, a ghost town in Jaisalmer
We climbed a rickety flight of steps inside an abandoned home to reach the terrace and saw the broken remnants of the village. Puddles of water had collected in the narrow lanes reflecting the crumbled ruins.See video below
The village wore a desolated look and had a cursed feel about it. Only a lone temple stood there renovated amidst the ruins.
The sun sets over Kuldhara village – a ghost town
History of Paliwal Brahmin society in Kuldhara
Kuldhara Paliwal belongs to the Brahmin society which lived there till the 19th century. This village was established in 1291. At that time, after 7 well-inhabited villagers in the ruling empire, the village was the reason for the disappearance. The minister’s physical eyes were on the younger daughter of the village’s chief.He wanted to marry her, he forced the chief to marry his daughter, but the chief refused. In 1825, all the heads of 85 villages in one night decided to leave Kuldharra for a very dark night for their pride and respect. Nobody knows where they went after leaving the village. It is said that he had settled near Jodhpur.All villagers have cursed the village who tries to stay in the village in the future, will bring death. Till then, Kuldhara shows the dignity of the Paliwal Brahmins in the entire village with Bhutia silence.
It is said that Paliwal Brahmin has a good knowledge of agriculture. Raksha Bandhan festival is celebrated as Paliwal is celebrated by the Brahmins because it is said that the day on which the Brahmins left Kuldhara in 1825, the eradication of the Pallival Brahmin society was eradicated.
Fact finding for the presence of ghosts
People are always curious about the existence of ghosts, spirits and spiritual powers. Many scientist and extraordinary society around the world do research to find the secret behind haunted places. Delhi’s extraordinary society admits about haunted Kuldhara village. A team of 18 specialist members with 10 experts decided to spend the whole night in the village. He experienced some weird activities in the hours of his stay.The team carries these activities with their high-tech electronic equipment, from their children’s hand print on cars, shade with some laser rays, one of them disclosed that it feels touching someone’s touch on their shoulders But nobody was there. The team had a device of -2 meters, by which they saw a sudden increase in temperatures of 31 degrees to 42 degrees and a drop of temperature within a few meters.The purpose of the extraordinary society of Delhi is to eliminate fear from the people because weird activities in the village decrease in their self-confidence.
Is Kuldhara a ghost town ?
Many stories floated around. Some say the “chudails” or ghosts walked around in the night, haunting the place. Others say that no body lived here anymore as mysterious deaths have occurred. The silence was not comforting . And then the voice of the old man floated in the air .“No one knew anything about them, some say they came from Pali in Jodhpur, some say they went back to Pali but only their souls now rest in Kuldhara .”
- You can hear the story from the caretaker here, who narrates it in his evocative style however he dismisses the haunted bit.See video below and view the detailed post here.
