Devmali – an 1100-year-old village in Rajasthan’s newly carved out Beawar district that preserves spiritual faith, life chores, culture, and customs in the absolute medieval rural ambiance – will soon emerge as a hot tourist destination.

The Rajasthan government has resolved to evolve this winner of the Best Tourism Village of India Award 2024 village as a popular destination for domestic and international tourists, Deputy Chief Diya Kumari said on Saturday.

The dusty but unique village in the Masuda subdivision, about 60 km from here, follows its centuries-old lifestyle, customs, and even commitments made to the village deity Bhagwan Devnarain, the folk-lore divine figure (& an incarnation of lord Vishnu).

According to folklore, Lord Devnarain visited this place nestled in Aravalli hill spanning around 3000 bigha, about 1100 years ago, in the Vikram Samvat 999, and sought a place to reside in.

Locals there faithfully dedicated the entire 3000 bighas of land to the divine and made a cow-dung-made home with a thatched roof. Since then, they have been residing in their homes on lord’s land without their ownership.

Happy with the service and faithful gestures of locals, Bhagwan Devnarain asked the villagers to seek a boon for themselves but the villagers politely declined. The Lord had then blessed all of them with ever-lasting peace and tranquility and also advised them to reside in nature-friendly mud homes with thatched roofs.

In view of the (folk) deity’s word and also the type of thatched home they provided to their lord, they never constructed pucca houses using concrete, cement, lime, iron/ metal rods, and frames. Even today they reside in mud – made thatched-roofed homes.

There is no concrete structure in the entire village except the state government offices and the temple of lord Devnarain on the hilltop.

Moreover, no one in the village eats non-vegetarian food or consumes alcohol. Also, there is a complete ban on the burning of kerosene and neem wood.

Villagers also conveyed that none of the village homes puts locks on their doors. There has not been any case of theft or robbery for the last many decades.

All these characteristics of the Devmali and its denizens that give a clear reflection on spiritual faith and firm resolve for the environment, cultural discipline, and social tranquility have obviously attracted the Centre which has launched the best tourism village competition since 2023 to promote tourism to the Soul of India (India’s villages) and this Devmali has been declared winner in the Community based Tourism category for the current year.

Devmali is among 36 villages of the country that have been chosen as winners in eight categories from amongst 991 entries received this year for the competition from 30 states.

The award was announced in about a couple of months by the government in New Delhi and will be presented to the winners on November 27 later this month.

Consequently, the Rajasthan government has also acknowledged the historic spiritual and environmental significance of Devmali and resolved to make efforts to protect its legacy and evolve it appropriately as a hot tourist destination by strengthening infrastructure facilities like connectivity, accessibility, and spiritual and environmental characteristics.

With this objective, Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari, who also holds the Finance, Tourism Development, and PWD portfolios, paid a visit to Devmali on Saturday and listened to denizens’ views and demands. Accordingly, she agreed to install a rope-way for easy access to the hilltop Devnarain temple and the laying of a two-lane road between Masuda and the village.

The deputy chief minister also issued directives to officials to arrange internet connectivity in the village at the earliest.