Harper’s Bazaar: Yoga at the Temple of Shiva
By Catherine Fairweather
The legend of Bhangarh is utterly compelling – the stuff of a good fairy tale with the requisite beautiful princess, bad magician, curse, black magic and ghosts. Bhangarh is a citadel built in the late 1500s by a scion of the Jaipur royal family, but abandoned overnight when – so the story goes – an evil magician cursed it, after being thwarted in his attempts to seduce it’s queen. Locals believe that Bhangarh is still haunted and dangerous to visit after dusk.
It is a mystical and atmospheric setting for yoga, especially in the late molten late afternoon light when, to the accompaniment of bells from herded goats, the shadows begin to lengthen and ravens and monkeys settle in the crumbling temples, pavilions and minarets. You are likely to have the place largely to yourself, except on the twice-weekly open days, when locals party at the bathing pools and picnic under age old ficus trees at the base of the rocky cliff face.
Where to Stay:
At the Amanbagh resort, 10 kms away, which organises yoga here with marvelous instructor Noveen, as well as candlelit picnics and dawn breakfasts.
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