My Encounter with Haunted Bhangarh of Rajasthan

Rajasthan is a very famous heritage site which fascinates the most to the travellers. Amer fort, Hawal Mahal, Nahargarh Fort and many other palaces and forts ignite an endless thirst for visiting these places. The beauty and elegance of their architecture freeze the feet of onlookers.  What more compliment a place can attain!

Since I see haunted places as the most thrilling places, I continue to explore such places in Rajasthan. I booked Jaipur tour packages and asked my guide to take me to the adventurous trip. To answer my request, he had three names. These were Bhangarh, Hawa Mahal and Jodhpur. So, I decided to cut my Jaipur trip short and drove to Bhangarh. For this, I swapped my tour package with Rajasthan tour packages from Delhi.

My encounter with Bhangarh

Archaeological Survey of India has prohibited visiting to this place after sun set and before sun rise. It is located at the foothills of Aravalli, that is 220 Km away from Delhi. This fort has havelis, temples, market and entry gates. But almost all are in urgent need of revamping. It is completely abandoned.

This prohibition sparked desire in me to see this site with my own eyes. The people whom I met during my short stay at hotel got terrified when they came to know about my trip to the haunted fort. One said, “Beware! It is under the grip of eerie and evil spirits.” The shades of scare were floating in his eyes. He also narrated why it is possessed by spirits.

He called the fort as ‘Bhoot Bangla’ or ‘the house of ghosts’. This made me more curious. On asking for exaggerating the account, he narrated, “The fort is occupied by the spirit of a Tantrik. Before becoming an evil spirit, the Tantrik was a body of flesh and blood. He had a huge crush over the beautiful princess Ratnavati. When she came to know about the Tantrik’s intentions, she rejected him. The Tantrik, thereafter, attempted to cast spell through ‘itr’ (fragrance). He sold the spelled itr to her maid. The princess sensed it and spelt it against the tantric. As the bottle struck the boulder, it crushed the Tantrik to death. Before dying, he cursed that none would be left alive after his death. ”

His story went further, “The words of Tantrik proved true. Around 10,000 people were massacred in the battle with the nearby king. Princess, too, died. Since then, buzzing goes on that her spirit is caged by the evil spirited Tantrik. And only her rebirth will free them from his evil spell.”

I had goose-bumps when I was listening to this folklore. Subsequently, he added that so many incidents occurred thereafter, as of three boys who visited this place. One out of three boys got injured there. And while taking him to hospital, all the three boys met a severe accident and died.

I found this story as ‘made by heart’. But visiting it, for sure, showed me what the fear is actually.