It was 10 AM, Vishwanath and I was lucky enough to have Hero Impulse with us. Our day in Jaisalmer started silky smooth. Gadisar lake was worth spending time. Now it was the time to head towards the cursed and haunted village of Kuldhara.

Before leaving Jaisalmer, we made sure that the bike is working fine. Tied our luggage and went to Petrol Pump. Fuelled it and started towards Kuldhara. The distance between Kuldhara and Jaisalmer is around 18 km.

The landscape changed in around 15 minutes, we were out of the Jaisalmer city. Splendid roads and views greeted us.

Road was smooth featuring newly laid tar. Vehicles movement was next to nothing. Took the left turn after 14 Km and rode another 4 Km on the single lane road for Kuldhara entrance.

Please take care while riding on this 4 km road stretch. You can encounter sand stretch on the road. And mind it, it comes as a surprise. In case you are caught, do not brake front wheel. Press rear brakes.

And if the fall is evident be ready to leave the motorcycle. Do not keep holding the bike if you know fall is sure.

One mid-aged sturdy man stopped us at the gate and asked for Rs. 60. Rs 10/person and Rs 40 for two-wheeler. From head to toe, he didn’t seem government authorized, so I asked for receipts. He said ‘Aap ghumkar aa jao phir le lena’.

When he felt I was reluctant. He smiled and spoke ‘Yahan bhooton aur hamare siva koi nahi rahta, aap aa jao hum yahin milenge’. That was enough for me, I nodded and went inside.

Experience at Kuldhara

A lot of references are present on the internet regarding Kuldhara and Paliwal Brahmans. What I felt is, there flourished a rich civilisation in the desert. Who not only managed to but were solid rich wrt economy and culture.

When I went through some literature, I came to know the richness of the place and people who lived here. Although Brahmins lived here in 84 villages, they were vaishya by profession. And according to accounts, some traders here had 5 rooms one each filled with a different precious metal 🙂

Mind-blowing isn’t it?

People living here build villages with lakes all around it and beautiful step wells. Beautifully carved temples depict the splendour of the village. Houses were neatly arranged in parallel sequence giving ample space for movement of carts and cattle.

We checked step wells, went inside them, climbed the small temple stair, did a whole parikrama of the village on our bike. We realized that we were alone here except for some big skull and bone. That was probably of cattle 🙂

Something was smelling right from beginning. I thought it was my clutch plate. But it was the exhaust of Impulse which burnt my backpack.

Chat with the keeper of the haunted Kuldhara village

After spending 2 hours in the village, we returned at the entrance and took receipts. I went inside the small room where 2 men and 1 Spanish girl were seated. That girl was a fan of Babaji (the keeper) and also the other way 😉 We got a chance to talk with him once the girl left.

Babaji was quite interesting. He narrated the complete story of Kuldhara and gifted me a fossilized shell which the ASI people got from dry Kak river.

Meanwhile, one young person entered the room. ‘Sirji ye Jungle ka praani hai’ the other man standing there said. He really looked like Jungle ka praani. Babaji said these two are his sons.

Then a nice piece of discussion started amongst us. They explained how big hotels fool their guest by taking them on a ghost trip to Kuldhara village. We were offered tea, but I thanked them as I do not like goat milk.

Story behind the Kuldhara village

Some 300 years back in Jaisalmer people were abundantly rich and highly cultured civilisation flourished there. 84 villages of Paliwal brahmins came under Jaisalmer kingdom.

With Salim Singh as the new prime minister came new taxes and oppression. He crossed his limits when his lusty eyes went on a beautiful 15 year old girl in Kuldhara.

He commanded the villagers to hand her in 10 days. Next day, 83 people from Kuldhara were sent in all direction to rest 83 Paliwal villages.

5th or 6th day village reps assembled in Kuldhara and in a meeting it was decided that they had reached the limit of oppression and now the king is not theirs. The only option was to pack-up and move somewhere else

[For us it may be a one-word pack-up, for them it was the whole world]  On 9th day all 84 villages were deserted. The girl father cursed the king that this place shall remain inhabited.

Life is tough in the barren desert of Jaisalmer

While talking, we came to know they do not have access to potable drinking water. So what do they do?

There is a small pond close to Kuldhara. The region hardly experiences rain. Water in the pond is so hard and yellow that drinking that water could be fatal for outsiders. But that is the only source of water for them. They are used to it.

Sometime later I spotted a big mushroom kept in the corner of the small dark room. They told they found this near the pond and said ‘Humara do din ka khana hai ye’.

In all these talk, I didn’t hear a single complaint from them.

Took a photograph with Babaji and left the room.

Started the bike and left Kuldhara. Took a U-turn and handed some hid due to Babaji for sharing wonderful experiences.

This is how our visit to Kuldhara the Cursed the village ended.

Read the other post from this trip.

Sam sand dunes in Jaisalmer

Tanot mata temple near Pakistan border

Jaisalmer fort and bada bagh

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