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Magazine
ROAD OUT
Place of intriguing peace
MITA KAPUR
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The valley that nestles Amanbagh has stories to tell of kings, ghosts and mystic spirits.
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Ruins alive: Amanbagh and its surroundings are replete with myths.
The road to Amanbagh makes you wish for peace. A dusty, bumpy ride from Jaipur to the Alwar district, does not warrant the snaking road taking you to an oasis ensconced in a rugged valley. Desert browns broken by scattered explosions of Chhila — bright flame orange blossoms on bare branches add to the act. The sandstone palace lives between lines, with tall mountain walls growing steeply out of sandstone edges, standing sentinel over the calm. The valley that nestles
Amanbagh plays a natural rhythm, the breeze redolent with smells of Jamun, Mango, Eucalyptus and Date Palms.
The Amanbagh “team” is there to welcome you with warm smiles, ‘tika’, and a mantra playing in the background. This area’s history stretches beyond the 1500 BC. The Mahabharata speaks of the five Pandavas spending their last years of exile at Bairath, a Matsya kingdom in the vicinity of Amanbagh.
Fort and lake
A walk down to the Ajabgarh fort and on to the Somsagar lake, makes you tread the rocky paths along which Akbar and his army had foot printed in the 1500s. We walked past Rohini trees with red berries which were used to make ‘sindoor’ in the past. Blossom headed parakeets, golden back woodpeckers, babblers, egrets flew creating their own music while a lone pied kingfisher hovered over the still surface of the lake, in performance.
The Ajabgarh fort has an old temple (1635 AD) with its 24 pillared open courtyard and a marble facade. We crossed the valley, its emerald green farms, goatherds running after their scampering lot. Akbar is known to have visited Somsagar Lake for its “inaugural”.
The story of Bhangarh was an apt filler before a heavy breakfast. Bhangarh, an ASI site is supposedly haunted and was famous for its witchcraft and tantric practices.
Madho Singh of Amber built his capital here with the sanction of an ascetic Baba Balanath, who meditated there. His condition being that “the moment the shadows of your palaces touch me, the city shall be no more!” In ignorance, Ajab Singh,Madho Singh’s grandson, raised the palace to such a height that the shadow reached the forbidden place. Hence the devastation in 1720 AD.
A more intriguing tale is that this deserted city of bazaars, palaces, temples, step wells, was destroyed overnight by Selu Sewra, a court magician’s curse. He loved Ratnawati, the queen, who resisted his amorous advances by rejecting a potion of enchanted oil sent by him and pouring it over a rock. The rock came alive and crushed the magician to death. Another version says, and to me it seemed the most believable — that Man Singh of Amber, Commander of the Mughal Army, felt threatened by the prosperous and flourishing city of Bhangarh and contrived its destruction in a staged war. Being Commander, it would have been easy play for him to make sure no evidence was left as witness to the overnight destruction.
Beautiful ruins
The ruins of the city are a beautiful site, with the palace standing in stately ruin at a far end. Cobbled streets, shops in a row, ending up in two temples with fine stone carvings, whisper tales of past grandeur and magnificence. The city still seemed to have a spirit, it must have buzzed, been colourful and festive. It’s divided into three parts and had five main entrances with a watch tower. Locals and legends both claim it’s a haunted place now.
Our guide tried his best to convince me with a string of examples of how people became possessed if they stayed after sunset.
Another friend, listened patiently, and spoke up, “I was here two years back, after sunset — nothing happened to me.” The guide looked aghast and disbelieving. Restoration work has been done by the ASI. The ruins are alive. It was disturbing to see the carving in the temples left unattended, the statues stolen and the shrines empty. That heightened the feeling of hollowness that permeated the ruined city.
A weekend spent at Amanbagh and its surroundings was like living in a crucible of parallel worlds. A step into a past fraught with intrigue, folklore, myths and timeless faith.
A visit to Neelkanth is like swaying into the dark alleys of lost time.
About 45 minutes from Amanbagh, lost in a high valley, encircled by mountains, is home to ruins of more than 80 carved temples dating back to the 6th Century BC.
Neelkanth is also the site of the remains of the 7th Century Jain temple of Naugaza, with a 25-ft-tall statue of Parshavanath ji, the 23rd Jain Tirthankara.
The best way to end such a day is to float in your private pool with a long drink, listen to the birds and doze off.
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