01The yajna at Pushkar
The Srishti Khanda of the Padma Purana tells how Bhagwan Brahma chose Pushkar for a great yajna. The auspicious hour came and Savitri, his wife, was delayed; a yajna cannot be performed by the yajamana without his wife, and Brahma, at Indra’s urging, took Gayatri as his wife for the rite. When Savitri arrived and saw this, she spoke curses on those present, and on Brahma that he would be worshipped at Pushkar alone, and then went up to the hill. Gayatri softened the curses with blessings. Savitri’s temple stands on that hill, Ratnagiri, and Gayatri’s on a hill to the north.
02The climb and the view
About 650 steps lead up the hill, and the ropeway that opened in 2016 now takes many pilgrims up. Married women offer the Devi bangles, sindoor and red cloth, praying for the long life of their husbands, as Savitri is the model of the faithful wife. From the top the whole town is seen around its lake, with the Brahma temple’s red shikhara below. On the full moon of Kartik, when the Pushkar fair is at its height, the climb is busy before sunrise.
The life of this place
- 2016A ropeway to the temple is opened.
On the southern edge of Pushkar. Climb at dawn for the sunrise over the lake; the ropeway runs during the day.
