A few days back we organized a one day trip to Bhangarh Fort. Its located in Alwar district of Rajasthan and is approximately 80kms from Alwar City. Choosing Bhangarh for the trip was a really weird decision as there were many options available near the capital; Bhangarh being a good 207 km off Delhi. But there was something that was drawing us towards Bhangarh. No one was able to pin-point any reason, but still we were all so excited and sure about this place.
Our bus left for the destination, 11 in the night. The whole night, we all sang and danced in the bus. We reached the Bhangarh boundary at around 6:30 in the morning. We soon realized our decision of choosing Bhangarh was one of the best desicion.
Outside our bus was nature in it’s full bloom. It was almost a picture-perfect scenery, with flora and fauna interacting in each and every possible way; small hills, fresh air, peaceful atmosphere, and our buses grunting and speeding on long empty narrow roads followed by sparkling golden rays of the newly born sun gave us the feeling of being in a totally different world. All of this added more to our anxiety and happiness.
Bhangarh fort is in itself a beautiful example of Indian architecture. Several temples in the vicinity drew everybody’s attention and gave the glimpse of various myths associated with the place. The premises of Bhangarh includes a number of temples most of them are “Hanuman Mandir”- temples devoted to the worship of Lord Hanuman.
“Staying After Sunset Is Strictly Prohibited In The Area”- announced an ASI signboard placed near the ruins, and I got reminded of the myth related to these ruins and the fort, which claim that this place is cursed. Archaeological Survey Of India (ASI) was suppose to setup an office in the fort but the government did not dare to do that and the nearest office of ASI is around a km away from the ruins of Bhangarh.
Bhangarh Fort Story
As per the myth, the charm of Princess of Bhangarh, Ratnawati, was matchless in the entire state of Rajasthan. At an early age of eighteen the princess started getting wedding offers from different provinces. In the same province, there lived a tantrik (a magician who performed black magic) by the name of Singhia who was desperately in love with the princess. One day, he saw the princess’ maid in the market buying scented oil for the princess. He used his black magic and put a spell on the oil which would hypnotise the princess by her mere touching the oil and she would immediately walk towards the tantrik. But when princess got the oil, she threw it on a block of a stone as she had seen the tantrik eyeing the oil. As soon as the oil touched the stone, the stone started rolling towards Singhia and crushed him. In his end moments, Singhia cursed the palace, saying, that there will be such an incident that everybody in the palace would die and their souls will stay here for centuries without rebirth. The very next year there was a battle between Bhangarh and Ajabgarh and no one survived in the battle nor in the palace, not even princess Ratnawati.
Interaction with local folk was something that I cherish; they were sure about the place being haunted inspite of not having any proofs for the same and treated us like their guests and even offered us food and water. After enjoying the place for few hours we left the place and carried back with us the valuable moments we all spent together. No sooner did the bus start all were lost in the world of dreams , sharing each other’s shoulder for supporting their heads.
We did not find any ghosts or spirits but only the beauty , peace and satisfaction. This journey strengthened the thread of friendship and teachers & students came to know each other better outside the usual classroom….!!!
– Shivansh Sharma, TIF
