The Legend of Kuldhara

Kuldhara…a village in the Rajasthan desert, perched at the edge of time. Abandoned, cursed, nearly two hundred years ago, to remain a heap of rubble and stone. It lies dreaming of its vibrant past when the streets echoed with laughter and the fields swayed green and gold.  What happened  one night that drove its inhabitants from their homes, never to return? Did they flee to preserve their honour, when the covetous gaze of a local lord fell on Pari, the headman’s daughter? Where did they go? How did they survive?

This is the fictionalised legend of the people of Kuldhara and eighty three other villages of Paliwal Brahmins – a proud and prosperous community that lived in the desert outside Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. Hounded by Saalim Singh, the prime minister of the ruling Maharawal to pay higher taxes, they are told that the taxes would be waived if they sent the headman’s daughter to Saalim Singh’s haveli.

To save the girl’s  and the community’s honour, they desert their homes overnight and disappear  into the darkness, never to be found again.

This is the point at which legend stops, leaving us to mull over what could have happened to the thousands of people and livestock from eighty four villages, and more importantly, to the girl, who was the cause of it all…

The Legend of Kuldhara is a book that has been greatly acclaimed by readers and critics. It takes up where history stops.