Bhangarh I Cursed Fort, Trapped Souls

If you were to Google 'haunted places in India', the Bhangarh fort would certainly appear in the top few names. However, what is the history behind the horrors at Bhangarh? Is it really an evil Tantrik's curse? Or is there something more to the fort than what meets the eye?

Bhangarh; Illustrated by Dishani Goswami: Visual Storyteller at ThisDay

Bhangarh is considered as India's most haunted place. People claim that the souls of old residents still roam the ruins of the fort after the sunset. The government also prohibits people from entering the limits of Bhangarh after sunset. But do these tall tales have any solid foundation to them?

Like the fort, these stories seem disconnected and all over the place. However, the faith of the people in Bhangarh’s paranormal prowess seems unshaken. People visit this small fort, which is now in ruins from all over the country, only to taste the ‘horror’ of its mysterious past.

The story of Bhangarh comes with its tale of rivalry with its neighbouring kingdom of Ajabgarh. Stemming from the same family tree, Bhangarh and Ajabgarh sadly saw their downfall on a battlefield, fighting against each other. But the stories of how these forts were abandoned are pretty intriguing, almost like a fairy tale. And like many fairy tales, this one too begins with a beautiful princess.

Princess Ratnavati, the daughter of Bhangarh’s ruler Chhatra Singh, was gifted with beauty and brains. Unlike her brother Ajab Singh, she was well-liked by the people of Bhangarh, who wanted her to be their next ruler. There was a secret power struggle going on inside the royal palace. While people had some idea about what was happening, nobody could have guessed how this story was going to turn the fate of this small kingdom in a completely different direction.

The hills of Aravali are as old as time itself. They were formed due to the collision of tectonic plates some two billion years ago. And like things of the past, they like to hide mysteries and secrets. One of such mysteries was a man of black magic — Baba Balu Nath. Balu Nath was a Sidh Tantric who had command over the dark arts. And when Balu laid his eyes on Princess Ratnavati, her beauty captivated him instantly.

He tried to woo her but nothing worked. And in the end, he tried to seduce her with a strong love potion. But Ratnavati learned of the Tantric’s intention and reversed the spell. The spell killed Balu Nath, but with his dying breath, he condemned Ratnavati and the people of Bhangarh to hell. And since then, the souls of all those poor people are trapped inside the walls of this fort.

However, the truth is stranger than this fiction. In the year 1720, Raja Jai Singh captured Bhangarh and Ajabgarh and attached them to his kingdom. The area was rich in minerals, particularly sulemani patthar or agate, which is considered auspicious. Soon, thieves started attacking the mines and in order to prevent thievery and looting, the rumors of Bhangarh being haunted were spread far and wide. The trick worked, and Jai Singh peacefully mined all the agate he could from this place. The mines eventually ran out of the minerals, but the stories do not die. They only grow stronger with time.