Today, join us as we explore a mysterious ruins, and try to unravel the baffling secret that led people living for five centuries in 82 villages to just pack up and leave overnight! Enter the world of the unknown at Kuldhara in Rajasthan. Shrouded in enigma and surrounded by myths, this is a place that lights up the darkest recesses of our imagination!
Gangadharan Menon
Today, join us as we explore a mysterious ruins, and try to unravel the baffling secret that forced people living for five centuries in 82 villages to just pack up and leave overnight! Enter the world of the unknown at Kuldhara in Rajasthan. Shrouded in enigma, surrounded by myths, believed to be haunted and cursed, this is a place that lights up the darkest recesses of our imagination. A must-see!
Kuldhara in Rajasthan is probably the only place in the world where an entire population of over 17,000 people vacated en masse, of their own accord, and disappeared into the thick of a misty night never to return.
It was with a great sense of mystery that I visited the twin-villages of Kuldhara and Khaba, 30 kms to the west of Jaisalmer. These two, and 82 other villages, were deserted overnight by the Paliwal Brahmins after living there for over 5 centuries: from 1291 AD to 1825 AD.
As a Rajasthani folk song about this mass migration goes, ‘Let’s leave the calves in the stables, let’s leave the cradles, let’s leave the milk boiling on the cooking fire; let’s leave all that we have here, never to come back again.’
The Paliwals were astute businessmen who controlled the trade on the Silk Route to Iran and the Arab lands. They were also visionary farmers who knew a lot about water conservation and rain harvesting, and miraculously cultivated wheat and gram in these harsh deserts.
Then what made them make the supreme sacrifice of deserting their homeland, leaving behind the colossal wealth they had created over five centuries? Continue on to Page 2 to find out more!
Stories abound. One says that Salum Singh, the prime minister of the King of Jaisalmer, was so envious of the prosperity of the Paliwals that he levied taxes so atrocious that they became the last straw on the Paliwal camel’s back. Another one says that all Paliwal women were stunningly beautiful, but the beauty of the chieftain’s daughter had to be seen to be believed. And the Rajput King of Jaisalmer was so smitten by her that he decided to kidnap her in the thick of night and forcibly marry her.
Be that as it may, the heads of all the 84 villages decided to leave their homes overnight with every single occupant of the village. In fact, some families had four generations moving out together. But before they left, they buried their treasures, cursing that those who attempt to make these villages their homes will drop down dead instantaneously. And the story goes on that once in many years skeletons of human bodies are found scattered in the by-lanes of this ghostly village!
On my way out, I saw the Cactus Park near the main gate of Kuldhara village. And I wondered. Is the cactus symbolic of the survival spirit of the Paliwals who thrived in the harshest of living conditions? Or is the thorn on the cactus symbolic of the harsh treatment meted out to them by the rulers of Jaisalmer? Maybe for all you know, it’s both.
The most heartening thing about this enchanting village is that a local conservation committee, with generous help from the nearby villages, takes great pains to keep this amazing piece of history intact. The deserted village lanes are broomed every day, and mindless picnickers are prevented from scrawling on these hallowed walls!
All Photographs by Gangadharan Menon
After 28 years in advertising as a writer and creative director, Gangadharan Menon quit the profession to take up his first and second love: teaching and travel. He has over 90 published articles that recount the joy of travelling in this amazing country. A member of Bombay Natural History Society, he is an avid wildlife photographer too. He can be contacted on wildganges[at]gmail.com
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