1: Pushkar - the Teerthraj

A pilgrimage for pious hindu devotees, Pushkar has turned into a haven for firangs who flock the place. And hence its not surprising to find 'brushchetta' figure out as the delicacy of local cafes, akin to 'dabhas', and 'Today's Special' is an exotic variety of 'falafel' or 'fajita'!

We began our journey to Pushkar at 8 in the morning, hopping onto a state bus from Ajmer, through 'Nag Ghat' or Snake Mountain, known such due to the meandering shape of the roads crisscrossing it. During the 14 kms journey, the bus rode past Ana Sagar, the famous lake created by damming river Luni by Anaji Chauhan (the grand-father of Prithvi Raj Chauhan) in 1135 to 1150 AD, and dropped us at a walking distance from the ghats in less than half an hour.

We walked through the bustling streets, filled with cafes, garment shops and foreign tourists. The cafes, an evolved version or a second generation of 'dabhas', had taken to catchy western first names such as Hard Rock, Pink Floyd, etc, with a common, inevitable suffix 'Roof Top Restaurant', to signify that the cafe was on first floor. The garment shops buzzed with the constant sound of sewing machines as the tailor, in some cases also the owner, frantically pedalled the wheels of the machine to stitch together colorful rags into an attractive halter or a bag ('jhola').

In the meantime, we were waded to a small ghat by a localite who seemed suspiciously helpful to Raghav. He seemed to be practicing a formal introduction to Pushkar, information we were aware of, courtesy Lonely Planet, the Bible. We thanked him for his help by tipping him with a tenner but that wasn't to be sufficient. We soon found ourselves buying some puja material and sitting on the bank of the ghat for supposedly having engaged the boy for 5 minutes when I thought the boy had engaged us to practise his narration on Pushkar. On the hindsight, I can't but compare this 'tourist phishing' to an efficient assembly line process!

We were aghast when pandit demanded a dakshina of 250 bucks at the start of the puja, so we avenged him by aghasting him with our intention of paying 11 bucks. Result, the pandit deserted us on the ghat and we had no clue what to do with the coconut, kumkum, incense and flowers on our plate. It was then that our friendly boy reappeared with his suspicious big smile, and taking the plate back from us, resold it to someone else. Relieved, we took to photography instead of puja!

Pushkar was not on our agenda initially, and when on the agenda, it was never a priority. However, there was an unspoken silence and a divine feeling of serenity about the place. We found ourselves gazing around at nothing, and not talking much to each-other, a very rare phenomenon. Hesitantly, I moved about some adjacent ghats, out of the total 52 ghats, while Raghav continued to gaze around like a dreamy school boy who didn't care about anything but that moment.

The Brahma temple, one of the five in India, was our next destination. So we set-out, passing again through the local market, so very targeted at the firangs, and interesting noticed the considerably huge company shops set-up by Biotique and Himalaya, amongst the other local naturopathy clinics which proclaimed to sell authentic herbal medicines, cosmetics and scents besides services such as herbal massages. The temple was the first Brahma temple we had been to, and no less in importance than any other in the world, and probably that's why they didn't allow us to click inside.

It was already 11 by then, and I desired to head back to Ajmer, but Raghav's unswerving faith in our Bible saw us undertaking a trek to the temple of Savitri Devi - a 750 feet climb, after an estimated 600 steps that don't really exist, recommended by the Lonely Planet to get a breathtaking panoramic view of the town. The folk lore goes that a darshan to Pushkar is incomplete without a visit to Brahmaji and Savitri Devi, so besides the light footed firangs, we were inspired by the undaunted spirit of the pious fogies despite the afternoon sun. It took us around 40 minutes to reach the hill-top, the side of which was neatly decorated with cane chairs facing the aerial view of the town and would have made for an ideal drinking place in the evening. Having made it to the temple minutes before it was to shut for the day, we offered our prayers to the goddess and thus completed our Pushkar darshan too before heading back to Ajmer.

The one and only thing that we missed at Pushkar was being a part of Pushkar's nightlife, smoking sheesha till dawn at a part Iranian and a part Western Cafe, overlooking the morning aarti on the ghats lit with floating 'diyas'. The best of both worlds, I say!

About Pushkar's importance, and why it is renowned as Teerthraj: (also Raghav's first contribution to this blog =))

In the pantheon of Hindu deities, the Trinity has a great significance. According to the Hindu belief, of the three Gods of this Trinity, Lord Brahma is the creator, Vishnu and Shiva are the preserver and the destroyer of the universe respectively. One day Brahma realized that not only Shiva and Vishnu but also all the other major deities had earthly abodes while he did not. Mounted on the majestic wings of his heavenly mount – the white swan, Brahma flew over the earth holding the divine lotus in one hand.

It is said that while Lord Brahma was passing this spot he dropped a lotus flower. Petals fell in three spots, thus forming the three lakes. The three places are located within a radius of six miles. Senior Pushkar, where the hotels are located, is considered the most holy, because the lotus fell here first. Middle Pushkar is 3km down the road and has a small Hanuman temple and a 200-year-old banyan tree. New (Junior) Pushkar, 3km further north, has a small Krishna temple. As Brahma threw the pushpa (flower) with his kar (hand), so the place received the name Pushkar.

Brahma chose Pushkar as his abode, and it came to be renowned as 'Teerthraj' meaning the king of all the sacred places. Thus Brahma decided to perform the yajna at Pushkar. The yajna, however, could not be performed without his wife, Savitri, by his side, and she was late. Brahma therefore had to request Indra to arrange a marriage for him so that he could fulfill the religious obligations. The priest manifested a daughter called Gayatri. Because she was an untouchable, she was put into the mouth of a cow and removed from the other end, which totally purified her. Gaya means “cow” and tri means “passed through.” When Savitri arrived, she saw that Brahma had married without her permission, so she cursed him that he would be worshiped only at Pushkar.

Enraged, Savitri went and established a temple on top of Rathkagir, the hill a little south of Pushkar. It is said to be due to Savitri’s curse that Brahma is worshiped almost exclusively at Pushkar.

(@Raghav, thank you honey!)

- Namrta R (from my backpacking trip to Rajasthan)

Companions: Raghav and Lonely Planet

Also read about Ajmer, Ranthambore, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Mount Abu, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Thar
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