Pushkar

This weekend I went with my family to Ajmer and Pushkar - twin cities in Rajasthan, about 450 kms from Delhi. The trip was short, hectic and fun.
Pushkar, a hilly town located about 12 kms away from Ajmer, is famous for two things – one is the only Brahma temple in the world, and the other is large numbers of foreign backpackers looking for a fix of grass, coke or ganja. The story behind the Brahma temple is quite interesting, and I suspect it also has a bearing on the availability of dope.

Legend has it that Brahma underwent a penance for 1000 years after he created the universe (with the Pushkar lake, a confluence of the waters of the Ganga, Yamuna and the Saraswati as its center). This penance was to have a huge yagna (a religious ceremony to invoke the blessings of the Gods) as its culmination. When the time for the yagna came, Brahma sent his son Narad (a nosey-parker kind of fellow, with a penchant for creating fights between gods) to fetch his wife (and Narad’s mother) Savitri from a nearby hill. Now Narad thought that his reputation as a creator of conflicts would be under threat if he did not create some misunderstanding between his own parents. So he went to Savitri and told her that she should come down for the yagna, but because there were multiple gods to be present, she should take her time to dress up really well. He then came down to tell his dad that mom would take some time as she wanted to really dress up.

The time for starting the yagna was non-negotiable since it was an auspicious period that would come only once in a thousand years. So Brahma sent out Indra, the king of the devas, to get someone to take Savitri’s place for the yagna. Indra found a cow-girl some distance away and got her to the venue, promising her that she could sell lots of ghee and milk to the assembled dignitaries. Brahma purified the girl by passing her thrice through the mouth of a cow (and hence the name Gayatri), seated her on his wife’s seat and began the event.
When Savitri eventually came down to the venue and saw someone else in her place, she was furious. She cast a curse on Brahma, saying that from now on, no married person will ever worship you because you have placed some other woman in your wife’s place. Brahma was quite crestfallen, and asked for some kind of mitigation from this harsh curse. So she relented and said that though no married person will worship you, they can worship this lake.

And that is why there is no other temple of Brahma in the whole world. The interesting thing about the temple is that only Naga sadhus perform the worship of Brahma. And where there are Naga sadhus, there is dope. And this brings on the backpackers (esp. Israeli nationals – the place is full of Hebrew restaurants and shops with Hebrew speaking locals)

Another bit of interesting trivia about Pushkar is that it is situated on Nag parbat (i.e. Cobra hill) cos the rocks are all jutting out on the top - very much like hooded cobras. This actually makes for quite a fascinating drive up the hill from Ajmer to Pushkar.

I've been trying to upload some photos but cant seem to succeed. Anyhow, I guess there is enough dope for one post.