Haunted Place | Kiradu Temple

The Curse of the Rock Temple

Remember telling horror stories during one of those late-night stayovers with cousins? I am pretty sure once in a while stories about haunted palaces would pop up. Talking about palaces, Rajasthan the land of palaces itself is known to have a lot of haunted ones- Bhangarh, Kuldhara and many more.

In this blog, I will be talking about one such cursed location in Rajasthan where the curse is still believed to linger. Kiradu Temple situated in the city of Barmer, Rajasthan makes for quite a story. The story behind this temple is quite unique which revolves around a curse that a saint gave to the temple. How can a saint give a curse to the temple? Why did he do that? What exactly is the story revolving around this curse? Has anyone ever dared to challenge the curse’s existence? Let’s dive into these questions and know more.

Temple… a place where people go to with their utmost faith, where people pour out their sadness and pain alike, a place where people visit in search of peace- the abode of gods. Years ago the Kiradu temple was just like any other temple.

This temple is quite old and no historian knows about its formation or its early whereabouts. However, it is believed to have been formed between 11th to 12th century during the rule of Chanakya Dynasty. A total of 5 temples were made altogether from which 3 are in a very detrimental state as of today and only 2(Someshwar Temple and Vishnu Temple) are somewhat recognisable.

Usually, only tourists visit this place but after the evening when the sun sets no one dares to set foot there. Just imagine a temple where God is believed to reside haunting the locals and visitors to such an extent that no one dares to look its way when the light is no more.

The Curse

The curse states that whoever dares to set foot here after the sun has set, will turn into a stone statue. The story that revolves around the curse is also quite unique. Between 11th and 12th Century a saint visited this village, he made this village his home.

Gradually his followers started living with him in this village. One day the saint had to go out of the village for a few days, he requested the villagers to take care of his followers by offering them basic help like giving them food and water. The villagers then promised him in return that they will take care of his followers no matter what.

After the saint left none of the villagers paid attention to the followers except for a potter. She took care of them with everything she had. When the saint came back he saw that the health of his followers had fallen. He was then told that except for the potter none of the villagers took care of them. After hearing this, in a fit of rage, the saint cursed the village that every villager will turn to stone by evening. He gave the curse that “right now whoever is in whichever position will turn into stone by evening”. After hearing the curse the villagers made fun of the saint, the saint did not pay heed to the remarks and straightaway called the potter. He told her that in favour of the care she took for his followers he will save her life. He asked her to leave the village right away and to not look back even once. The potter did as she was told.

Sun started to set, the potter packed up her belongings and started to leave the village. On her way, curiosity got the best of her and she turned to look back at the village one last time. She turned into stone. There, right in the middle of the street. The curse of the saint caught up with the villagers as they froze in the very position they were in and turned into mere stone statues.

Present Day

Currently, the locals have their utmost faith in this story and believe that at that time not only people turned into stone but also the 5 temples in the village turned into stone as the frightened villagers stopped to pray and worship the god to stop the nightmare. People can still not get over their fear for the place and don’t want to be anywhere near it. Hardly a few tourists visit the place during the daytime to explore the remains of the cursed place and leave before the night falls with evident fear in their minds. This place does not have any guards taking care of it because nobody wants to stay there after the evening.

Unleashing The Mystery

This mystery was uncovered through the experience of Paranormal Investigator Mr Jay Alani’s visit to the Cursed Rock Temple. Paranormal Investigation is all about uncovering the truth behind a myth. The locals of Barmer have made all types of stories pertaining to Kiradu Temple, some say that they have seen people turning into a statue, so the questions arise- where are those statues then?

When Jay Alani asked them the same question locals answered that those statues soon get converted into the sand and mix with the sand of Rajasthan. Now, this is almost impossible to believe that stone gets converted into the sand. Simply proven science. Mr Jay Alani stayed the whole night there and proved officially that Kiradu Temple Is Not Cursed.