Instead of Haunted, WHY Bhangarh fort should be called the Most Beautifully Ruined Fort of India!

People with whom you travel matter more versus which place you travel to, one of my friend always tells me this. After this trip, belief of mine in his saying has become stronger.

The drug called travel, when enters in your mind and body, it becomes your need. You no longer look for leisure; you look for something new all the time. There is long list of places to be explored and framed for every traveler. Likewise, randomly and totally all of a sudden I happen to travel to one of the places which was in my bucket list since long - the famous Haunted fort of Bhangarh.

This travel was with a group of people, whom I didn't know at all, other than one person who's my colleague at work. She intended to have some suggestion from me about the place, when I told her that though I have researched about the place, but yet to visit. At last moment another friend joined and then what, it was Friday evening when we spoke and it was a Sunday morning when we hit the road.

They say when a place calls you, you reach to that place and most importantly when you and the place calls each other, you reach that place whole heartedly and comes back with great memories to cherish for the longish time.

Why to visit Bhangarh fort?

Bhangarh is known as the most haunted place in India. There are various stories about the fort and it is believed that ghosts still reside in the area. For any traveler, it is of great interest to reach to a place which has to do with ambiguity and mystery. Hence both made me get going on this trip.

The journey, How to reach Bhangarh ? -

We were 11 of us and we decided to travel in a tempo traveler- which was comfortable and spacious. Our driver Jagdish was very enthusiastic and co operative. A road journey is about people you travel with, the music playlist, the view that you find on the way, the destination and the road itself. Road, having the least importance - though it's called a Road journey. Route- Delhi>Gurgaon>Alwar>Bhangarh.

The other way is to go to Alwar by train from Delhi and then heir a taxi to Bhangarh.

The way to Bhangarh on a rainy Sunday Afternoon- A glimpse -

Here is a video for you to experience that cloudy day and green view drive-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y83a-91aAf4

And then we crossed the village where we found ruins and new structure, people and kids, happy in their own lives -

On the way from the Village area to the fort we found just One petrol pump and one General store-

Bhangarh Fort - View of the fort - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rij3cOHWOs

The Bhangarh fort was built in 17 th Century (1613 AD) by Man Singh for his brother Madho Singh. It was named after the named of Mado Singh's grand father Bhan Singh.

Bhangarh Fort comes under Archeological Survey of India. The ruins of the fort is as it is maintained as it has been since years. It's very high tourist importance sue it its mystic stories and picturesque view.

Haunted Stories about Bhangarh fort- Sadhu named Baba Balak Nath lived within the fort area. It was his injunction that any houses built in the precincts of the fort should not be taller than his house, and if the shadow of any such house fell on his house, it would result in destruction of the fort town. N K Sinhai, the wizard who was adept in black magic fell in love with Ratnavati, the princess of Bhangarh who was very beautiful. The wizard found her in the market area and replaced the scent she was about to buy with a love potion in order to ensnare the princess. However the princess saw his deed and threw the it onto a big boulder. As a result, the boulder started rolling down towards the wizard and crushed him. Before he died, he cursed the Bhangarh area mentioning that no one would be alive around and in it. Subsequently Bhangarh was incaded by Mughals and every one living there was killed. The present state of the fort is attributed to the curse of the wizard and people believe the ghosts in the fort are that of the princess and the wizard.Entrance of the fort

There are many temples at the entrance. The main one is Hanuman temple.

There are 4 gates to the fort- Lahori, Ajmeri, Phulbari. Delhi Gate.

Geography-

The Bhangarh Fort is located on the border of the Sariska Reserve in the Aravali range of hills in Alwar district of Rajasthan. The nearest village is Golakabaas. The fort is situated at the foot of the hills on sloping terrain. The ruins of the King's palace are located on the lower slopes of the hills; trees surround the pond area and a natural stream falls into the pond within the premises of the palace.

The fort is located 235 kilometres (146 mi) from Delhi and the approach to the entrance gate of the fort in the last 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) stretch of the road is an unpaved road. The fort is 20 miles (32 km) from Thana Ghazi.

There is something special about Ruins, they are understood best by ruined people. Here are ruins talking their own story, every picture and every view has a story to tell. We may have our own version of the outlook but these ruins are free now and they celebrate their existence every time we visit them. I guess thats the way they feel alive. ????

Our Experience inside the premise of the Bhangarh Fort -

The first thing that we found inside's the Hanuman Temple. We did darshan of the lord and then the moment we came out of the temple, it started raining. We had two umbrellas and we were 11. It was interesting enough and though we tried our best to rescue each other from getting drenched, yet the rain welcomed us in the fort like that. It kept raining for good 15 minutes and we got wet. There was no shade, eventually we enjoyed the rain , and tried to keep the camera and the phones safe.

The entry way is beautiful, surrounded by Aravalli range and the ruins look beautiful and unique.

Monkeys and Baboons (Langoors) also welcomed us, other than rain. They were very friendly and not at all notorious. Have a look on the lovely family

And a moment where a Baboons (languor) and a monkey were together-

We found a temple, amazingly carved and had no idol inside it. It had large stairs and though there was no idol sitting inside yet it had an appeal of holiness.

To the main fort area we had a kind of uphill walk, which brought us strong as a team travelling together.

There were birds flying together and on a cloudy afternoon, it was a treat watching them -

The view of the fort premise from the top of the fort -

There was one corridor in the fort which was really smelly; some people say it's because of bats, surprisingly there were no pigeons in that area - no one knows the real reason. There is also a belief that the smell is because of the negative energy in the fort.

While we reached at the top, we found basanti (yellow) colored dressed Rajasthani ladies from village Bassi and Alwar. Looking at the view of the premise through them was such -

And then they posed for me -

And then for all of us, and at this moment I wore my rajasthani chunri to look like them. They invited us to have lunch at a bhandara in near by village temple. They were sweet enough and we were grateful, instead we had other plans and departed with great amount of gratefulness -

Two of us in search some ancient metals around, and we found some ( just for our satisfaction, we found something at least , may be of just few years ago or some days ???? ) -

How can a fort roaming be done without seeing of Squirrel -

Another temple area in the premise-

And then I found this gentle man who posed very well and with expressions-

While we took the exit, another gentle man was right there for the click-

The fort bid farewell to me with the view of these two, a months old monkey with his mother eating wheat -

And another one eating corn just like we do- Video link- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvcakAhmBUE

The journey was equally beautiful as the place was. We danced, we sang, we got to know each other and the journey of our lives. The road ahead had a heart view of cloud to offer while we moved away from the fort

I exchanged hello with these ladies in a tempo. They were sitting at the back seat and I was on the front seat of a Tempo Traveler. We exchanged smiles and laugh and hello. Simple joys of living comes like this ????

The sunset like this on the way back to Delhi

Do's -

And as always I clicked the moon view along with the lights and a closer one-

The moon was half but our mind with happiness was full. And this road journey ended with a promise to have another journey soon ????

You must carry an umbrella, if you travel to this place during summers or monsoons, since there is hardly any shade, sudden brightness or rain can make you feel very hot or can make you drenched. You must carry some food with you, since on Alwar route there aren't any great eating joints. Keep good list of songs to be enjoyed during the long drive. One must travel to such places in group. Group brings variety of thoughts and ideas to explore more creatively. Going this far with one person along can be boring. You must download map to reach Bhangarh, as 2G network comes in the area and GPS doesn't work. That's why we had missed the way and drove larger distance.

Happy Travelling. Related story about the travelers and how it is to travel with strangers can be read through this link-

Trip to Bhangarh Fort and The travelers of this journey - Celebrating Life each day

Thank you for travelling this far with me.