Kuldhara Village

Kuldhara Village, located around 20 kilometres from the Golden City Jaisalmer is one of the most interesting and intriguing attraction sites that you should absolutely include in your itinerary. The village, rich with its fair share of legends and myths, is said to be a spooky and haunted village. The abandoned and eerily beautiful appearance of it, standing solitary amidst the vast stretches of desert, lives up to its reputation. There have been stories of ghostly and paranormal activities in and around the village, but like always no one could provide any solid proof of it. Visit it, if you wish to be surrounded by an air of mystery.

Legend says that the residents of the entire area left the place overnight altogether to save their honour and lives from the hands of the tyrannical minister. Thus, the entire area is calm but eerily silent! There is nothing to do as such, but the experience itself makes up for all of it. The government with the help of some private construction companies are setting up cafes, restaurants and even lodges for the night stay to turn the place into a full-fledged tourist place.

History of Kuldhara
Ghost towns and villages hold a charm very different from the ruins of castles and fortresses. Mostly because they give us a chance to peep right into the lives of the people who once inhabited them. Kuldhara is an abandoned village in the city of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. Established around the 13th century, it was once a prosperous village inhabited by Paliwal Brahmins. The villagers were mostly agricultural traders, bankers and farmers. And would use ornamented pottery made of fine clay. It was abandoned by the early 19th century for unknown reasons. Possibly because of dwindling water supply, an earthquake, or as a local legend claims. Because of the atrocities by the Jaisalmer State’s minister Salim Singh.

A British officer by the name James Tod recorded the 1815 population of Kuldhara as 800 (in 200 households). Based on information from “the best informed natives”. By this time, the Paliwals had already started deserting the village. By 1890, the population of the village had declined to 37 people; the number of houses was recorded as 117.
Over years, Kuldhara acquired a reputation as a haunted site. And the Government of Rajasthan decided to develop it as a tourist spot in the 2010s.