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Pushkar- The holy Place of India

Just 11 km northeast of Ajmer is Pushkar, a small town sacred to the Hindus and now a tourist attraction for its annual camel fair, the largest in the world. The sanctity of the lake for Hindus is equal lo that of Mansarovar in Tibet and according to tradition, a bath in its waters is as essential as pilgrimages to Badrinath, Dwarka, Rameswaram and Puri, the traditional "at least once in a lifetime" places of pilgrimage.
The Padam (lotus) Purana (sacred legend) describes Pushkar as the place where Brahma, Lord of Creation, killed a demon with a lotus. The petals fell at three spots where lakes emerged. Pushkar is the most important of them, because Brahma performed a yagna (sacrifice) here on the full moon of Kartik (October/November). His consort, Savitri, could not be present on the occasion, so Brahma hastily married a Gurjar girl, Gayatri. When Savitri appeared she was furious. She cursed all those present, and said that Brahma would be worshiped at Pushkar only. Brahma countered this by assigning Gayatri the status of goddess, with powers to undo the curse. However, his temple here remains one of the very few dedicated to this deity in India. Savitri retreated to a hillock north of the lake, where a temple is dedicated to her. On a hillock opposite is another dedicated to Gayatri.

Epics, religious texts, coins and inscriptions bear evidence to the sanctity of Pushkar. Over the centuries it grew into a temple town, and today there are as many as 400 temples in Pushkar. The present town was renovated in the ninth century by a Parihar king of Mandor, when he was cured of a skin ailment after a dip in the lake.

Pushkar is a maze of temples, ashrams (hermitages) and dharamshalas (rest houses) and one is never far from the sound of worship, from ascetics and devotees. The most important temples are dedicated to Brahma, Shiva, Badri Narayan, Varah, Savitri and Gayatri. The dharamshalas are for specific castes, tribes and sects. Pushkar is frequented most by Rajasthani peasants, by Gurjars in particular, who naturally have a special feeling for Gayatri.

The lake is bounded by 52 ghats built over the centuries by kings and nobles. (Photography is prohibited on the ghats.) Of these, Varah, Brahma and Gau Ghats are the most revered. Varah Ghat is specially sacred as Lord Vishnu is believed to have appeared here in the form of a boar. A dip in the lake by a woman absolves both her and her husband. For a complete cleansing of sins, three twilights must be passed at Pushkar with bells at the three important ghats.



The Pushkar Fair

Throughout the year. Life is centered on the lake and temples, and Pushkar has the atmosphere of an ancient religious town, peaceful and secluded. But for 12 days in the month of Kartik it is transformed into a spectacular fairground that spreads over the dunes west of the town. The mela is an event of religious and commercial importance.

Thousands of men come with their camels and cattle, and camp on the dunes to transact business. Three days before the full moon, the women start coming, gorgeously attired. The beauty of rural Rajasthan gets concentrated within the radius of a few miles. The peasants bathe and worship, are variously entertained, and delight in the dazzling wares of hundreds of roadside stalls, while on the dunes camels are bought and sold, beautified, raced and paraded. The fair is overwhelming in its magnitude and in its visual impact.
Apart from the tranquil tourist bungalow on the shore of the lake, a miniature tent city is put up during the fair for the convenience of tourists. Pushkar also has several boarding houses because it has lately become a popular retreat for hippies.



Camp Tourism
The Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation puts up a Tourist Village during the Pushkar Fair.The tourist village is arranged in blocks of tents, and provided a huge dining hall with sitting capacity of 1500. 40 Huts,150 Swiss Tents,350 Standard tents & 3 dormitories of 20 beds each are arranged for the stay ```.The other facilities are Money Exchange,ISD/Fax,Postal Counter Medical Aid, Coffee Shop,Camel & Horse riding. The Fair authorities arranges a number of events for the entertainment of tourists viz. Tug-of-war, Turban tying,Camel & bullock races.This year Fair will be during -11 Nov.2000

www.pushkarraj.com

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