Brahma Temple, Pushkar

01The yajna at Pushkar

The Padma Purana tells that Brahma, seeking a place for his yajna, let a lotus fall from his hand; where it touched the earth, water sprang up, and that was Pushkar. When the hour of the yajna came and Savitri had not arrived, Brahma took Gayatri as his consort so the rite would not be broken. Savitri, coming late, laid a curse that Brahma would be worshipped in few places on earth. Savitri’s own temple stands on Ratnagiri hill above the town, Gayatri’s on the opposite hill, and Brahma’s in between. Pilgrims bathe at the 52 ghats of the lake before darshan.

02The temple and the fair

The temple stands on a high plinth with a red shikhar and a hamsa, Brahma’s vehicle, over the gate. The four-faced murti of Brahma sits with Gayatri. Tradition credits Adi Shankaracharya with reviving worship here; the present building is mostly an 18th-century renewal, associated with Gokul Chand Parekh, a minister of the Scindias. The Kartik Purnima snan and the camel fair held with it bring lakhs to the lake each November.