Hanumangarh

Standing beside the Ghaggar, Bhatner Fort is counted among the oldest forts in India. Tradition takes it back to the third century — sources disagree on the year — when Bhupat, a Bhati prince, is said to have lost a battle, sheltered in this wooded country and raised a great stronghold of baked brick. Sitting on the old Delhi–Multan road, it is said to have absorbed more invasions than almost any fort in the region: Mahmud of Ghazni struck it, Timur took it in 1398, and in Akbar's time it was recorded in the Ain-i-Akbari rather than besieged. Timur's memoirs are said to have counted it among Hindustan's strongest forts.

Kalibangan is a time capsule you can walk through. The name means 'black bangles', and it fits: fragments of dark bangles scattered over these mounds gave the place its name, and digging into them brought up layer after layer of Indus Valley material. Here lies the earliest ploughed field ever uncovered by excavation anywhere in the world, and around it Harappan town planning, pottery, children's toys and fire altars — the everyday furniture of a settled, surprisingly modern town some five thousand years ago. A museum built close by keeps the finds within easy reach.

About 120 kilometres from Hanumangarh, Gogamedi holds the samadhi of the folk deity Gogaji, whom devotees also call Jaharveer. The stories say he was a Chauhan warrior blessed by Guru Gorakhnath, who fought fiercely against raiders to protect the cattle of the countryside. He is worshipped as the lord of serpents, and a thread tied in his name is believed to draw the venom out of a snakebite. The loveliest thing here is the shared shrine: a Hindu priest and a Muslim priest both keep watch at the samadhi, and Muslims revere him as Jahar Peer. The Bhadrapada fair is enormous.

Beside the Ghaggar, near the village of Amarpura, this old shrine is given to Bhadrakali, a fierce form of Durga. Tradition holds that Raja Rai Singh, the sixth ruler of Bikaner, had the temple raised, and the fine red stone image of the goddess that devotees still queue to see is said to date from his time. Faith in her runs deep across the surrounding villages; people say no wish asked here goes unanswered. At Navratri — in Chaitra, and by local account in Ashwin too — the grounds turn into a fair, and worshippers arrive in their thousands for darshan.

The story of the Shila Mata temple, said to stand within Hanumangarh town, begins with a stone. Local belief holds that this miraculous shila came floating down the Ghaggar, and that the people who found it lifted it out, installed it and began worshipping there. The rituals are said to be unusual too: instead of sweets, devotees are described as offering the goddess raw milk and salt. It is said that those troubled by skin ailments in particular travel from far away to make their vows here, and it is for those vows that the shrine is best known.

This gurudwara counts among the principal Sikh places of worship in Hanumangarh, and its name is tied to tales of valour that are said to have been retold here for generations — which is why worshippers treat it less as a building than as a piece of remembered history. Through the day the sangat comes and goes, kirtan carries across the courtyard, and, as in every gurudwara, the langar stays open to whoever walks in.

In the small town of Pallu, in Hanumangarh district, the Brahmani Mata temple has a reputation for granting what is asked of it. Devotees call it chamatkari — miraculous — and say a wish made here with a true heart does not go unfinished. By local account, the ashtami of each month is when that reputation shows: families arrive from the villages around, the courtyard fills, and by afternoon the queue for darshan is said to stretch past the gate.