It is said that before the fort at Bhangarh was built, a monk or Guru by the name of Balu Nath used to live here alone. He was a sanyasi who had given up all worldly belongings and went to forest to be away from people, common man's desires and dedicate his life to god. He was against the idea of building a town because that would mean a lot of people around , a great amount of disturbance in his daily prayers and will beat the very purpose of him living there to be away from people. However though, after much persuasion by King Bhagwant Das he agreed on one condition that the shadow of the king's palace should never touch Balu Nath or his residence or the city will perish. Bhagwant Das agreed to the condition and so began the construction of Bhangarh Fort. Interesting fact around this is that King's palace only consisted of 3 or 4 floors initially, in order to honor Balu Nath's Condition that the shadow should never reach his residence.
Years passed and the city prospered. Slowly over the time, Balu Nath's warning was forgotten and one of the later kings, Ajab Singh, re-built the palace to a new height by adding 3 more floors to the existing 4. This proved fatal as it caused the palace's shadow to reach the place where Balu Nath lived. Hence what was once a warning turned into a curse and the city doomed. How it happened is something no one can tell. Whether everyone left, or died because of the curse remains a mystery.
Another version of this story is that Balu Nath did not literally mean what he said that the shadow of the palace should never touch him. He merely used it as a metaphor to warn king that he should be left alone and not bothered by people of the town. As time passed, population of Bhangarh grow and Balu Nath's warning was forgotten. When his sanyasi life started to get disturbed by people around, Balu Nath cursed the city to perish.
Interesting thing about this tale is that Balu Nath seems to be an immortal. He laid his condition before the city was built, post which it was ruled by several kings which means that it must have been a long time but Balu Nath somehow managed to survive all those years. He lived and lived until he saw the city doom but what happened to him after the town was deserted is another mystery. Some people believe that his samadhi is still located within the fort from where he rises every night to haunt the palace.
Second legend is even more interesting, a story of one sided love that turned into obsession, the tale of Rani Ratnavati whose beauty, it is said, was unmatchable in whole of Rajasthan. While some believe that she was a princess of Bhangarh, it is also said that she was in fact herself the queen, married to the King.
When the princess turned 18, she started getting marriage proposals from princes of other states. Being a very beautiful woman, she had numerous admirers within Bhangarh as well and one such admirer was Singhia, a tantrik. He was desperately in love with the princess and desired for her even though he knew that she was way out of his league. People like him weren't even allowed to see the princess, let alone the thought of marrying her.
It is said that once the princess along with her maids and friends went visiting the market to buy some scented oils. Singhia spotted her at a shop and he got an idea by which he could meet the princess. He used his black magic and put a love spell on the oil which would hypnotize the princess by her merely touching the oil, and she would surrender herself. The princess foiled this plan though. She had seen the tantrik enchanting the oil, and she therefore threw it away, whereupon the flagon rolled over a stone. As soon as the oil touched the stone, it started rolling towards the wicked tantrik and crushed him. While dying, Singhia cursed the palace with the death of all who dwelt in it, without any rebirth in their destinies.
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