An ancient Hindu legend reveals the importance of Lake Pushkar, located in northwestern India. Lord Brahma, creator of the universe, was searching for a place to perform a yagna (sacrifice). During his quest, a lotus petal fell from his hand and landed in the mud. Water sprang from the spot where the lotus petal landed, forming Lake Pushkar. Brahma chose this site to perform his yagna.
Savitri, his wife, refused to be with him during the ceremony unless Lakshmi (wife of Vishnu), Parvati (wife of Siva) and Indrani (wife of Indra) came with her. The gods believed that a man and a woman together created a whole, so no social or religious function could be performed without both the man and the woman in attendance.
Brahma waited for Savitri, but when it was almost time to start the yagna and she still hadn't arrived, he asked Indra to find him a girl to marry so that the yagna could begin. Indra found a girl named Guyatri. Brahma married her and the yagna started. At one point Siva objected and tried to stop the ceremony. When it was agreed that Siva could also have a temple dedicated to him at Lake Pushkar, he relented, and the ceremony continued.
Savitri appeared when the sacrifice was almost over. When she saw Guyatri in her place, she became very upset and ran up a nearby hill called the Ratnagir, where a temple had been dedicated to her. When the yagna was completed, Lord Brahma went into Pushkar Lake for a dip, thus sanctifying the waters. Now it is believed that any sinner, no matter how serious his sins, can have them washed away by bathing in the waters and so becomes eligible for direct entry into heaven.
A place of pilgrimage
Pushkar has been a place of pilgrimage throughout the ages. It is mentioned in the Ramayana (1500 B.C.) that Rama visited Pushkar. The next reference comes from the fourth century A.D., when a Chinese traveler, Fa Hsien, wrote of Pushkar as a great center of pilgrimage. Today, pilgrims arrive every month during Purnimas (the phase of the full moon) for a dip in the holy water. During Kartik Purnima (the full moon that occurs during October-November), the water is considered to be at its holiest.
Fifty-five ancient bathing ghats (wide stone staircases) surround the lake. Since the recent surge of tourism in Pushkar, large signs forbidding photography have been erected on every bathing ghat. The Varah Ghat is the most popular because it is believed that Lord Vishnu once appeared here in the form of a varah (boar). It is on this ghat that the crowds gather on the eve of Kartik Purnima to pay homage to the lake. Devotees set afloat large leaves bearing little clay lamps surrounded by flowers; they make offerings of flowers, incense, and money to the Brahman priests who stand knee-deep in water reciting mantras in praise of the lake.
After these offerings are made, the pilgrims pray at the temple of Brahma. The women then climb the Ratnagir Hill to reach Savitri's altar, where they pray for eternal companionship with their husbands. Pushkar is the only place in India that has temples dedicated to Brahma and his wife. Pushkar is called Tuthraj--King of the Holy Places--and the pilgrimage to the Chardhams, the four holy places in India, is not complete without bathing in the
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