01The wrists of Sati
When Sati gave up her body in the fire of Daksha’s yajna, Bhagwan Shiva carried her through the worlds, and Bhagwan Vishnu’s Sudarshana chakra divided the body so that his grief might end. Wherever a part fell, a peetha arose. At Manivedika the two wrists fell, the manibandha, where a bangle sits. The Peetha Nirnaya Tantra names the Devi here Gayatri and her guardian Sarvananda. Pushkar has a second claim on the name Gayatri. The Padma Purana tells how Bhagwan Brahma performed his yajna at Pushkar and took Gayatri as his consort for the rite when Savitri was late, and Savitri’s shrine still stands on Ratnagiri hill above the lake.
02At the foot of Gayatri hill
The shrine stands at the base of the hill the people of Pushkar call Gayatri parvat, also named Puruhuta, a little out of the town. For a long time it was known mostly to local families, and pilgrims to the Brahma temple and the lake rarely came this far. Better roads have changed that, and through both Navratris, in Chaitra and Ashwin, the path to the shrine is crowded. In Kartik, when the Pushkar fair fills the ghats, many pilgrims add the Shakti Peetha to their round. Shakti Peetha lists differ from text to text, but Pushkar’s Manivedika is in the Peetha Nirnaya Tantra’s 51 and is not in dispute.
Pushkar is about 11 km from Ajmer by road; the shrine is a short drive from the lake. Go early on Navratri days.
