Bhangarh,Rajasthan: Bhangarh is Still Haunted by the Shadow of its Past

Bhangarh is a place between Jaipur and Delhi in Rajasthan state of India known for its ruins. Bhangarh is also a pre-historic site. The most remarkable of its buildings are the temples of Gopinath,Shiva (Someshwar), Mangla Devi, Lavina Devi and Keshava Rai. Other buildings include shops along the main road, several havelis, a mosque, and a palace.The palace was protected by two inner fortifications across the valley. The town is separated from the plain by ramparts with five gates.

The town was established in 1573 (VS 1631) during the rule of Bhagwant Das as the residence of his second son Madho Singh, the younger brother of Emperor Akbar’s general,Man Singh I. Madho Singh participated in many campaigns with his father and brother. The next ruler of Bhangarh was his son Chhatr Singh,after whose death in 1630,Bhangarh slowly declined. When the Mughal Empire became weaker after the death of Aurangzeb, Jai Singh IIattached Bhangarh to his state by force in 1720. After this Bhangarh diminished in population, and since the famine of 1783 (VS 1840) the town has remained uninhabited.

 

 

The city, according to legend, was cursed by a tantrik in the sixteenth century. Singhia, a lecherous tantrik, was attracted to the beautiful queen of Bhangarh, Ratnavati. One day, he saw her maid buying some hair oil for the queen and put a love spell on it. The queen was a tantrik herself. One look at the swirling oil and she threw the flagon away. As soon as it touched the ground, the stone magnified into a boulder and moved towards Singhia. All the tantrik could do before the boulder crushed him was to curse the land, “Bhaag jaao” he warned the people.

Entry to Bhangarh is legally prohibited between sunset and sunrise. A signboard posted by ASI (Archaeological Survey of India), which is a Government of India organization, specifies the instructions. While the board is written in Hindi, the instructions on it roughly translate into: "Entering the borders of Bhangarh before sunrise and after sunset is strictly prohibited. Legal action would be taken against anybody who does not follow these instructions"^.

The real ghost story..

THE HAUNTED HOUSE

About 10 years ago ,in 2001, my family moved from modern home in ParkStreet, West Kolkata to a large home built sometime in 1920s ,we all fell in love with the big old place and it immediately felt like home.

There were a couple of incident, I clearly remember happening in that house, the first happened not long after we moved in. One night I was watching movie in my bedroom, my bedroom had a window that looked out onto the back veranda, which had a old squeaky floorboard that would make a bang sound when people stepped on it. It was around 11.55pm, I saw the figure of a person it was dark and quite tall.

I heard the sound of the floorboard, I thought it was my mom, and was waiting for the back door to open.

After a while, I call my mom...MOM…...MOM! I was quite confused, how the person had left without me seeing through the window. Next morning I told my mom about the incident. My sister told the same thing too. My mom replied, “I didn’t come to your room”

The next night as usual I would study till 10pm and then go to sleep. After switching off the lights. I went to bed and fast asleep, after and 1 hour or so, I heard something that disturbed my sleep. It was still dark, but I could clearly hear the sound of someone walking in the veranda, the person was wearing a ghungroo (a musical instrument worn by women around the ankle to produce rhythm).I could not believe my ears but I was afraid.

Strange enough the sound never moved beyond the veranda. This continued for another 15min. Then I decided to get up and switched on the lights, all of a sudden the sound stopped. I checked the entire house, but I could not find anything unusual.

On the very next day I went to school, suddenly a boy came to me and said to me hello JOY..

Again I surprised, I was new in the class How could he know my name...And he started laughing and told me “do not worry I am your friend” and told me some sort of “BLACK MAGIC” and warned me not to mess with it. He clearly told that I should not go outdoor if it again happened.

“JOY ….Concentrate in the class With Whom YOU are Talking…Open page no:15 ,HISTORY” - Mam Told.

I confused …Because there was nobody.

ON the way coming to our home I saw that boy was standing behind the tree and murmuring something, I called him two more times. Suddenly he stared at me… I told him what happen? Why did not you attend the full period? He simply told “don’t like….!!”.

Then He told me that he wants to go to my Home. He came along with me, he mentioned his name as nick and he is orphan. By the way, of his walking I understood that he knows the way to my home very well. It surprised me.

On the night as usual I studied and slept after switching of the lights. after and 1 hour or so, I heard something that disturbed my sleep, it was still dark, but I could clearly hear the sound of someone walking and murmuring in the veranda, the boy was not in my room, I came outside of the room and called “Nick” “Nick”…where are you…?…Suddenly He came in front of me and said “I told you not to come out of the room..Then why did you come…?”

I got real scared.

I jumped out of there and race towards the room and switched on the lights, it vanished. I started calling God’s name but it made no difference. i got real scared..Then I started shouting DAD…..DAD…. My dad came and asked me “what happen why you are shouting?”. I told there is a GHOST. He started laughing and said it is nothing it is just your imagination or Illusion of your mind.

I slept.

On the next morning in the breakfast table, I told about the incident to my mother. She too was confused as to what exactly happened.

She asked me, “Did you tell to your father?” I replied “Yes”. Yesterday night only I told him.

“Yesterday night…”

“Yesterday night. Your father was in Delhi, today early morning he came here”-she replied.

I shocked……

We changed the home and moved back to our modern home in parkStreet in 2^nd august 2001.I consulted with doctors, psychicist   they said it is just like paranormal activity.

But now also I don’t believe in such of any hypothesis. Today when I think of it, it always strikes my mind what exactly happened?