Ghost stories have a very different kind of charm to lure readers with old forts, ruins of castles, deserted alleys, sinister houses and abandoned spirits.
Lying 21 Km from Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, Kuldhara village has a similar story to tell.
At present Kuldhara Village is a heritage site and is maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
As you enter the premises of this ancient village you can feel as if time has stood still in Kuldhara since the last 200 years.
Straight dusty roads with intermittent rows of mud houses, cul-de-sac lanes and sandstone walls and a temple once visited by the Paliwals stand as a living testimony of some sad past.
To the east of the village lies the parched river bed of Kakni which is a warning to the impossibility of sustenance of life in this place.
An erstwhile flourishing village of North-Western India whose history dates back to the 13th century was abandoned overnight in 1825 for some reason unknown. As you walk along the ruins of Kuldhara village you can witness the ravages of time on its soil.
However, the place does not have any supernatural fact behind its myth but a veil of sadness rends the air narrating the unfortunate past of its natives who were forced to leave their ancestral place under the cover of darkness.
History Of Kuldhara Village -
Kuldhara village was founded in 1156 by Jaisel Bhati atop the Trikuta Hill in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.
The purpose of building a settlement in such a place was due to the reason that the original capital Lodarva was under the threat of attacks by the enemies.
The place around the Trikuta Hill had a smooth trade route with Persia and Arabia in the Middle East by land and also through the ports of Gujarat.
As a result, they used to earn handsome revenues due to levied taxes from the caravans who used to travel from these places to Rajasthan.
Subsequently, the invaders travelled from Afghanistan and used this route to plunder the wealth from Gujarat and the Somnath Temple in particular, that was known for its assets.
For protecting themselves from the attacks of the invaders, the villagers abandoned Kuldhara and its adjacent villages as men, women and children were being held captive by the intruders and enslaved thereafter.