Our quest for the most beautiful abandoned places in India and the history behind them took us to Kuldhara a vast mazelike cluster of roofless homes, bare walls, and a carpet of disjointed bricks are all that remain of what is once said to have been a prosperous village. Sitting quiet in the sand d...
Far up in the Himalayas, a couple of hours drive from the border town of Kargil, further north from the grand SrinagarLeh Highway lie the ruins of what once must have been a majestic fort. Rumoured to be taller and older than its famous cousin the Leh Palace, the Chiktan fortress is shrouded in man...
Human Life has long been intertwined with the course of rivers and their confluence with the great seas. Lakhpat is the apocalytic setting of life if the river were to disappear. Situated at the mouth of the Kori Creek from where the Sindhu once met the Arabian Sea, it is all but a fortified ghost t...
In the vast territories of the Kutch, on top of a forlorn hillock stands the fort of Roha. Once the biggest jaagir in the region, it lies neglected and forgotten. A close observer in the tragic death of 120 princesses, the seat of brave rulers, home to famous artists, a once burgeoning and rich prin...
The astonishment of why some places lie abandoned and in ruins does not get more perplexing than this. Off the Konkan coast of Maharastra lies the impregnable, unassailable and unconquered fort of Janjira. A fascinating history that begins with a pirate keep from which the Ethiopians carved out a st...
This time our quest for abandoned places and their stories took us to two different places in East Rajasthan. One, an erstwhile kings capital reduced to rubble after being ravaged by war, and the second, an unconquerable fort still standing high and proud after being torn by tragedy. Tying the two a...
A medieval town of palaces and temples, and while the temples still draw pilgrims by the thousands the majestic palaces lie silent. What prompted the Bundelkhandi Kings of Orchha to abandon their capital and move elsewhere This question throws up a plethora of answers and the most intriguing one tel...
A couple of hours drive from Jaipur, in the land of a thousand forts, the fort of Bhangarh has consistently topped the list of the most haunted place in the country. Not much is known about the fort and the entire town the lies sprawled in front of it. Rumours of curses abound and all that meets the...
The sleepy town of Ramgarh in northern Rajasthan is known by connoisseurs as a unique open art gallery. It is the site of several mansions made at a time when it was on the crossroads of trade routes and wealth streamed in from all directions. The cenotaphs and palatial homes painted on the outside ...
Talakkad has a long history, going back to at least the 8th or 9th century when it was the capital of the Ganga Kings. In later years, it was also a prominent city under the Cholas, the Hoysalas, the Vijayanagar kings and the Mysore Wodeyars, with each successive dynasty adding its own architectural...
A forgotten capital of a forgotten kingdom. Its name today means ruined city, but at the height of the Hoysala rule in the 12th century, Halebidu enjoyed an important status and was called ‘Dwarsamudra’. Halebidu is home to some of the most iconic structures of Hoysala architecture, yet remains rela...
Kittur in Karnataka is a place where the story of one of the first women freedom fighters Rani Chennama lies in a silent abandoned fort. All about wars and bravery, this episode unearths the heroic character of Rani Chenamma and the reasons for the ruined abandoned state of the fort.
Its a place where freedom fighters were kept before the independence of India. This place has witnessed the torture and pain given to the people imprisoned here after the first war of independence. However, today it lies forgotten and only when one visits can one realise the importance of the freedo...
Ross Island is a tiny little Island at the mouth of the Port Blair Harbour. It is, in fact, the entry point into the Andaman islands. At one point in time, it served as the capital of the British in this part of India. It was a township that had everything one may need to live a lavish life in. But ...
Unakoti is a place in the North East of India where carvings of Gods and Godesses lie abandoned on a hill. In numbers these statues are one less than a crore and are in the form of rock cut structures. Nobody knows how and when these carvings were made. With mythological reasoning behind the existen...
A place from where lies the story of a once powerful Ancient kingdom of the Ahom Rulers.This kingdom shaped the beautiful north eastern state of Assam. However, despite the stories and the 600 year old important rule, Shibsagar today lies only as a hint of the grandeur before.
Champaner lies in Gujarat, This town has has seen three kingdoms and their contribution to several fortifications.. At one point of time this place was the capital of Gujarat, but today lies only as asilent witness to past glory.
There are precious few monuments and artefacts in our ancient land which have survived the vagaries of man and time. But the ones that do are an insight into an India that was inimitable as it was marvellous. And few would stand in comparison with two jewels of ancient India the fair Mahajanpada of...
On the banks of the gleefully wavering Tungabhadra, flanked by mountains made of towering boulders, sits, what seems like an impossible city Hampi. Once known as Vijaynagar it served as capital of an empire whose wealth, power and reputation was the envy of the known world. Surpassing, if not equiv...
Standing majestically on a plateau above the flood plains of Kashmir are the stupendous ruins of the Sun Temple of Martand. Described as a dream in stone designed by Titans and finished by jewellers, the temple of Martand is part of the legacy of the indomitable Lalitaditya Mukhtapid of the Karkota ...
Known as the KohiMaran in Persian, the hill of Hari Parbat is crested with a fort of the same name. Originally built by the Mughal Emperor Akbar, the fort has been the silent sentinel watching the winds of change and the many hands eager to grasp the land fabled as heaven on Earth. We arrive in Kash...
Amongst the many scattered battles of the First War of Independence of 1857, none has been eulogised in literature and popular culture as the Siege Of Lucknow. Once the quarters and centre of operations for the British Resident in the Court of the Nawab of Lucknow, the Lucknow Residency was the epic...
Situated in a forgotten part of Bengal, 150kms northwest of Kolkata, is a city that was a proud capital for over 800 years of a kingdom whose royal lineage stretched over a thousand years The only surviving heritage of the splendour of Bishnupur are some exquisitely constructed and decorated temples...
On the Konkan coast of Maharastra sits in seeming placidness the serene sea fort of Vijaydurg. A rock that has been witness to thrilling times of an era when Shivaji and his empire spread through the Deccan like wildfire, followed by the formation of a naval force off its coast that dominated the Ar...
Hidden in the ravines of the Chambal and protected for centuries by dense forest is an ancient temple town. Named after the Lord of the Elements Shiva, this site the ancient Bateshwar has the densest concentration of temples in one location in India 200 and counting. While KK Muhammed, an exemplary officer of the ASI, has set new standards in restoration and recovery of almost half of these, there is much about the antiquity and intricacies of this temple town that still evades the brightest minds, while its magic is slowly coming back to life.
Hindi
01 August 2020
History, Travel, Human Interest
Shubhra Chattarji