Bhangarh is a village situated in
Rajgarh Alwar,
Rajasthan state of India. It is situated in the
Rajgarh municipality of the
Alwar district
Alwar is a district in the state of Rajasthan in northern India, whose district headquarters is Alwar city. The district covers 8,380 km2. It is bound on the north by Rewari district of Haryana, on the east by Bharatpur district of Rajas ...
in
Rajasthan.
Bhangarh is at the edge of the
Sariska Tiger Reserve.
Bhangarh is also a pre-historic site and tourist spot. The journey to Bhangarh takes approximately 1.5 hrs and is 65 km from Jaipur. Its old buildings include the Hindu temples of
Gopinath,
Shiv (Someshwar),
Hanuman,
Ganesh, Vishal Devta, Lavina Devi, and
Keshav Keshav is an South asian male given name which is a modern form of name Keshava, one of the many names of Lord Krishna and Lord Vishnu. Notable people with the name include:
* Keshav Bansal (born 1991), Indian entrepreneur
* Keshav Vaman Bhole ( ...
Rai. Other buildings include shops and
dhabas along the main road, several
havelis, a mosque, and a palace.
The palace is protected by two inner fortifications across the valley. The town is separated from the plain by ramparts with five gates.
The town was established in 1573 (VS 1631) during the rule of
Kachwaha Rajput ruler of Jaipur
Bhagwant Das as the residence of his second son Madho Singh, the younger brother of Emperor
Akbar
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...
's general,
Man Singh I
Man Singh I, popularly known as Mirza Raja Man Singh (21 December 1550 – 6 July 1614) was the 29th Kachwaha Rajput Raja of Amer, later known as Jaipur state, in Rajputana. He was the most powerful and trusted general of the Mughal emp ...
. Madho Singh participated in many campaigns with his father and brother. The next ruler of Bhangarh was his son Chhatra Singh, after whose death in 1630, Bhangarh slowly declined. When the
Mughal Empire became weaker after the death of
Aurangzeb
Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...
,
Jai Singh II annexed Bhangarh to his state by force in 1720. After this, Bhangarh diminished in population, and since the famine of 1783 (VS 1840), the town has remained uninhabited.
Trespassing near Bhangarh is legally prohibited between sunset and sunrise as it is said to be haunted. According to locals, spirits enter the place after sunset and thus nobody is allowed to enter the borders of Bhangarh during this time. A signboard posted by the ASI (
Archaeological Survey of India), which is a
Government of India organization, specifies these instructions. While the board is written in Hindi, the instructions on it roughly translate to: "Entering the borders of Bhangarh before sunrise and after sunset is strictly prohibited. Legal action will be taken against anybody who does not follow these instructions". Some other rules are there according to which no one is allowed to graze their animals in the village after sunset.
See also
*
Bhangarh Fort
References
Further reading
Mandava, Devisinh (2001) Kachhvahon ka itihas. Jodhpur, Rajasthan (in Hindi)
External links
Silent ghost cities - Article at The Tribune
{{Alwar district
History of Rajasthan
Villages in Alwar district
Tourist attractions in Alwar district
Reportedly haunted locations in India