Bhangarh is believed to be the most haunted place in India. It is famous for the ruins and historical fort. There are many rumors about the place which makes it the subject of interest. It is located in the Alwar district of Rajasthan, between Jaipur and Delhi. Being in Udaipur (Rajasthan) I was not able to resist, but to find out the mystery of this place, so I decided to visit this place and check out if there is any ghost actually. According to legend, the city of Bhangarh was cursed by the Guru Balu. He had sanctioned the construction of the town on one condition, "The moment the shadows of your palaces touch me, the city shall be no more!" When a descendant prince raised the palace to a height that cast a shadow on Balu Nath's forbidden retreat, he cursed the town.
There exists another myth. This is the legend of the Princess of Bhangarh, Ratnavati. In the area lived a tantric, who was in love with the princess but knew that the match was impossible. One day tantric saw the princess's maid in the market; he used his black magic on the oil she was purchasing so that upon touching it the princess would surrender herself to him. The princess, however, seeing the tantric enchanting the oil, foiled his plan by pouring it on the ground. As the oil struck the ground it turned into a boulder, which crushed the tantric. Dying, the tantric cursed the palace with the death of all who dwelt in it. The next year there was a battle between Bhangarh and Ajabgarh in which Princess Ratnavati perished. Legends say that there are ghosts in Bhangarh and that is why entry is prohibited for tourists in the fort after sunset and before sunrise. The locals believe that the princess Ratnavati has taken birth somewhere else and that the fort and the empire of Bhangarh is waiting for her return to put an end to the curse.
Phew! Enough reasons to go this place, right?? Yeah. The advantage in Rajasthan is that the roads are good and if you are comfortable riding for long distances then it is fun and easy to reach any place, within 400km, within a day, on bike. We were three people, riding on two bikes, one Hero Hunk and other Yamaha R15. The plan was to go bhangarh via Pushkar (another must place to see in Rajasthan) and Jaipur, and come back in 3 days!! The total distance counted was roughly 1100km! we went in April’13 which I won’t suggest to do (as you won’t get any bravery award for getting fried in hot summers of Rajasthan :P ), but since I didn’t have any leaves left with me and this was a long due visit so we went for it.
Some tips for riding in summers: how to beat the heat!
- · Wear full sleeves, it will protect your skin from sun burn
- · Wear vented jacket and gloves for good air circulation
- · Use sun screen UV protection lotion
- · Keep drinking lots of water and liquids like juice, glucose
- · Check your bike tires for air pressure and take rest every 2 hours to avoid excessive air pressure due to heat and expansion of air
- · Start early and finish early to avoid dehydration or heat strokes due to excessive riding in sun
- · Not to mention to wear helmet and safety gears
- · Keep an eye on coolant and engine oil, it is likely that level may go down in hot weather
- · Avoid constant running at high rpm to avoid excessive heating of engine.
Started early in the morning around 6 am, when it was still cool, we rode some 200km comfortably without feeling the hot sun. After 10am it was hard keeping up with the hot weather and stopped many times for rest and water (remember drinking lot of liquid is must while riding in summer). Destination for day1 was Pushkar. Pushkar is in Ajmer district of Rajasthan and it is at a distance of approximately 20 km from Ajmer City. Pushkar is considered as a holy place for pilgrims and according to Hindu mythology, it was created by the tears of Lord Shiva, when his wife Sati died. The place has many temples and Ghats (nearly 52), but the most famous temple is of Lord Brahma. There are few Brahma temples in world and this one is one of the important among them. Another tourist attraction of the place is camel desert safari and Pushkar Meal (Camel fair) which happens in November of every year.
Coming back to the story, we reached Pushkar around 2:30 pm after riding 321 km, when sun was shining in its full glory, so we decided to take some rest and rather than challenging the Surya Devta(GOD). In the evening we took bath in holy pushkar lake and tried to wash off some of our sins. Though, we came to know later that we bathed at the wrong place: P Pushkar is a lovely place and even in the summers, evenings have unique charisma which makes you feel good and free. It is very soothing and peaceful to sit and walk around the Ghats after Sunset and you could hear the chants of mantras and aarti. After roaming around for a while in the local market, which is full of some enthusiastic vendors and shopkeeper who will try to rip your pockets with their offers, but if you can negotiate well it is good place to buy some souvenir rather than from Pink city Jaipur (though you won’t find quality and high end products here, which you will get at Jaipur), we had a sumptuous meal at the lake side restaurant and went to sleep early as next day was supposed to be long one.
Second day plan was to reach bhangarh and come back to Jaipur for the night stay. Total distance for the day was 310km and 3-4 hours stay at bhangarh, which made it a pretty long and tiring day for us. We reached bhangarh, after getting lost two times on NH11. From Jaipur we took some unknown which was a short according to some local but then realized that were no sign boards and we lost time in finding right way. Taking NH11A via Dausa is known and simple route, I would suggest. We reached bhangarh around 1 pm and again sun was on our head. The funny thing was that bhangarh has only ruins and we could not find even a roof to hide in shade. However these ruins are very historical and it will take you back into time when these ruins were markets, town and other places of recreation. After exploring temples, fort and other monuments we sat down for some snacks and discussing what if there is some real ghost!! But alas! There is no ghost in bhangarh; at least we could not find enough proofs to substantiate it. There are some wild animals, which are believed to be responsible for sounds and other night movements. Though, local people still believe that there are some ghosts. We came back to Jaipur, when it was already dark and we choose to stay in the outskirts in a motel. Staying inside city would mean expensive hotel and also time wastage in city traffic.
Run for last day was 412 km which we did comfortably in 10 hours. Road is pretty good and NH-8 connects Delhi to Mumbai through 6 lanes and 4 lanes. We Reached Udaipur around 6 pm in the evening. Overall experience was different in the sense that we rode 1100km in the hot and burning summers of Rajasthan. Lot of learning from riding point of view.
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