I
was in Jaisalmer and seeing Salim Sigh ki Haveli built in 1815 by Salim Singh, (Divan)
prime minister of the kingdom when Jaisalmer was the capital.
My
guide told, that Salim Singh was not a soft and kind hearted. Actually He was Zalim, a cruel man of his
time.
Guide
narrated a fairy tale-like story of how Kuldhara came to be abandoned, cursed
and haunted; forgotten, and then discovered after almost 2 centuries. It was a
story that was fascinating in every aspect!
Follow
me as I am going to explore the haunted, abandoned and cursed village Kuldhara
at a distance of 65 Km in deserts of Jaisalmer.Jeep was passing on dusty road
with sand duens on both sides.After one hour travelling, I was at entrance gate
to ruined Kuldhara village which stands desolate and an uncanny silence
prevails all around.
This village “KULDHARA” was abandoned by its people 200 years ago.
Today all that remains are huge heaps of bricks and the odd tourist who weaves through the silent, dusty lanes of this once lively settlement.
Love has power to win the world.One can
bestow his enemy with love. Contrary to it, love for lust is such a volcano
which burn all in its way.Destruction and only destruction.
This blog is on that love and a curse which destroyed the village
Kuldhara Beyond the fort and the sand dunes, the folk tunes and the camel
safaris.
An entire village became
abandoned overnight and is now haunted
Located
just under 20km from the desert town of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, Kuldhara has
earned its reputation as a site for ghostly activities. The abandoned village
has been that way for a little over a century and anyone who’s since tried to
occupy it has supposedly witnessed mystical activities.
Sometime
at the turn of the last decade, the abandoned village came into the public eye
when people started writing about the mystical experiences they had in
Kuldhara.
Nestled in the heart of Rajasthan, India, in the vast expanse of
the Thar Desert stands one of the most haunted places in Rajasthan – the
Kuldhara village. Abandoned centuries ago, its shattered structures tell tales
of a once-thriving community. The reasons behind its sudden abandonment remain
a puzzle, adding to the mystique that surrounds this ghostly village.
Legends however have a different story to tell and the prime minister plays a crucial role in them.
Salim Singh, often called Zalim (Cruel) Singh, was a high profile
prime minister (Divan) to the king of Jaisalmer. He was so powerful that he
proceeded to build a house that would be taller than the palace of the king.
This
upset the king who dispatched his soldiers and had the uppermost floor of the
house demolished so his palace would continue to be the tallest in the land.
Salim Singh continued to remain an important courtier of the Jaisalmer State
and his powers were largely unchecked.
20 kilometers from Jaisalmer, Kuldhara, which was once
prosperous but now, it lies in ruins and all that is left are various open
houses in the state of despair. 
At first sight, this curse ghost town, Kuldhara, gets the
thinking caps on and immediately paranormal activities.
The story goes like this, Once this village
was home to around 1,500 Paliwal Brahmins, which has lived in this community
for more than five centuries peacefully and comfortable.
Rumors
say that Salim Singh, the evil prime minister, who was known for his sinister
practice of collecting the tax, set his eyes on a girl of Paliwal Brahmins and
decided to marry without her consent. Salim Singh threatened the village that
if the marriage doesn't happen, villagers will face the worse consequences.
 |
| Salim Singh Divan ( Prime Minister ) of Jasalmer State |
The Paliwal Brahmins Settled in Kulhada
The
Paliwal Brahmins were natives of Pali.Depressed by the oppressive ruler of
Pali; they migrated to the area of Kuldhara in the then state of Jaisalmer in
1291.
It
is believed that each new Paliwal family was gladly received into the 84
villages nearby Kuldhara with a brick and a gold coin from every other family
in the village. The brick was used to build a house while the gold was used to
start a business or a farm.
Kuldhara
was an excellent township, pretty big, well planned with structured
settlements, and straight-wide streets which ran in grids with houses on either
side
There
were about 600 households in the village, most of which were double storeyed,
well designed and aesthetic, most probably designed to avoid heat storms of the
desert.
Paliwal Brahmins left village Kuldhara to remain inhibited and
cursed.
Instead
of giving approval, the villagers asked for some time and then left their
houses overnight. But before living, they cursed the village that nobody can
inhabit the villages ever.
Some
stories even say that heavy taxes were levied on Paliwal community and as a result,
they had no option, but to vacate and just disappear from the reach of the
ruler. Even after so many years of this accident, the village remains true to
the curse as residents of Jaisalmer tried to stay here but they didn't succeed.
Salim
Singh, the legend goes, could get away with murder and this was something he
was well aware of. Even as he continued to raise taxes on the locals, Salim Singh
also couldn’t keep his eyes off the ladies.
His
lust led him to a girl in Kuldhara who he demanded be sent over to his chambers
that very night. The villagers, not having a choice, agreed but requested that
the soldiers return the next day to collect her.
That curse stays till date because the town is barren and
uninhabited.
The
houses are almost in the same condition as they were left behind by their
inhabitants. As I climb up the steps of one such home, I can see the entire
expanse of the village. Lanes and brick homes, equidistant from each other, are
neatly laid out.
Now
this village Kuldhara is maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India as a
heritage site. As the sun sets across the sand dunes, the gates of Kuldhara are
closed by the locals of the neighbouring villages.
But
how a bog population of Kuldhara vanished in a single night, with no one
noticing them remains a mystery. The dull fate of this village and story behind
its walls still haunts many.
The End