Lodurva: Village of Temples
We started from
Jaisalmer to Lodurva (Lodrawa or Lodarva) village which is s
15 km to the north-west of Jaisalmer. It is famous for its Jain Temple dedicated
to 23rd Tirthankara Lord Parshvnath, Hinglaj Mata Temple, Chamunda Mata Temple and old temple of Shiva. It was noon and whether outside was little hot. Most
of people in the village were inside their home. 2-3 kids were playing on the boundary
walls of their home. They showed us the route to temples inside the village. We
could not see the Chamunda Mata Temple from inside as the gates were closed but
were lucky enough to see Hinglaj Mata temple as the priest there was kind
enough to open the gates of temple for us. We were in hurry due to the urge to
cover most of the places enroute Sam Sand Dunes. So we saw Jain temple from
outside only. It looked yellowish gold structure from outside as it was made up
of sandstone which is very famous around Jaisalmer.
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| Jain Temple at Lodurva |
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| Hinglaj Mata Temple |
Kuldhara: A Haunted Village
After a small stopover
at Lodurva we headed towards Kuldhara, a haunted village. On our way we saw
lots of windmills. Kuldhar is around 18km from Jaisalmer.
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| Sandstone Fines on our way to Kuldhara from Lodurva |
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| Windmills |
There were 84 villages
which were abandoned in single night some 250 years back. Kuldhara & Khaba
village were among them. Kuldhara was inhabited by Paliwal Bramhins who came
from Pali. They may have decided to abandon it due to continuous decline of water
supply in the area or possibly as per local legends due to the atrocities of
Jaisalmer Diwan Salim Singh who imposed excessive taxes on villagers.
Locals say that the
Salim Singh was attracted by the beauty of one of the Brahmin girl in village.
He sent his guards to bring the girl. Villagers asked the guards to come next
morning and abandoned the village overnight.
Locals also claim
that while deserting the village, the Paliwals imposed a curse that no one
would be able to re-occupy the village. Those who tried to re-populate the
village experienced paranormal activities, and therefore, the village remains
uninhabited.
All you can see there
are the ruins of some 200 houses, destroyed walls made of sandstone, temple, dried wells.
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| Ruins of Houses |
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| Dried Step-Well |
Rajasthan government
has decided to develop the site for attracting more tourists.
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This place is being renovated for tourist attraction
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| Ruined Temple presently being renovated |
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Jaisalmer Vikas Samiti
collects entry charges to Kuldhara village
Rs.10/person &
parking charge of Rs.50
Khabha: A Village of Few
While travelling from
Kuldhara to Sam Sand Dunes, we had a brief stop at Khabha. Khabha is around 18
km from Kuldhara and 32 km from Jaisalmer. Only few habitants live in the
village. You can see the grazing cattle and peacocks leading you to the Khabha
Fort. It is very small & ruined. It houses
a small Geological Museum which exhibits fossils.
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| Khaba Fort |
One can take a small
walk around crumbling structure & then take a tour of museum to see ancient
artifacts.
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| Right Corner of Fort |
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| Left Corner of Fort |
Khabha Fort still carries an abandoned feel
with very minimal human activity in the area.
View from Fort is very good, one can see
the ruined homes & temples made of sandstone. There are steps going downward
from fort leading to Khabha village.
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| Khabha Village inhabited by few , Camel herd can be seen at the end of village |
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| View from Khabha Fort: Ruins of Khabha Village |
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| View from Khabha Fort: Small temples among Ruins of houses |
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| Small Temple |
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| Little Bigger temple |
While we see very few humans, there are lot
of colourful peacocks & birds roaming freely among the ruins.
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| Peacock amround ruins |
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| Peacock welcoming us on the road |
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| A Bird watching us |
Khabha Fort is opens daily and has an
admission fee of Rs.10/person for geological museum.
Fort is being
developed by Rajasthan government for attracting more tourists.
If you are interested in staying at Khaba
to witness sweeping view of desert during sunset & sunrise, you can do so
in Khaba Fort Desert camp having mud huts, tents in Thar desert.
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| Khabha Fort Desert Camp |
