Kuldhara, Rajasthan- The Indian village which was abandoned overnight!

Kuldhara, Rajasthan- The Indian village which was abandoned overnight!

Kuldhara is a deserted town in the Jaisalmer region of Rajasthan, India. Built-up around the thirteenth century, it was at one time a prosperous town occupied by Paliwal Brahmins. It was relinquished by the mid-nineteenth century for obscure reasons, conceivably in light of lessening water supply, or as a neighbourhood legend claims, in view of mistreatment by the Jaisalmer State’s pastor Salim Singh. A recent report recommends that Kuldhara and other neighbouring towns were surrendered as a result of a quake.

The townsite is located about 18 km south-west of the Jaisalmer city in Rajasthan. The town was centred on a Hindu temple of the mother goddess. The remains of a city wall can be seen today on the north and the south sides of the place.

Kuldhara is an abandoned place with a deserted look and brings sadness to the heart when one thinks of those unfortunate people who were forced to leave the land of their forefathers.

With its first structures built sometime in the 13th century, the village of Kuldhara was abruptly abandoned overnight sometime in the early 19th century.

As the legend goes, the Minister of Jaisalmer, Salim Singh, was enforcing a large amount of money on the inhabitants of Kuldhara in the form of heavy taxes.
When he first saw the daughter of a local chief, he instantly fell for her and wanted her out of lust. He demanded her hand in marriage and warned any villagers that they would be met with even higher taxes should anyone consider attempting to interfere with his plan to marry her.

He gave the villagers only one day to accept his proposal. Out of allegiance and respect for their friend, the village chief, and father of the lady who had caught Singh’s eye, the entire community jointly decided to leave before the 24-hour time limit was up, vanishing into the night forever and leaving all that they had worked for six centuries to build behind. It is also said that people who have tried to stay there at night have been chased away by strange paranormal phenomena. To this date, the village remains isolated; left almost the same as its populations had left it centuries ago.

Kuldhara developed a reputation as a haunted site, and the Government of Rajasthan decided to develop it as a tourist spot and in the last few years, many movies have been shot here.

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