Pushkar is an oasis in the desert with three lakes, and therefore an important meeting place. It’s a very important holy site for Hindus. It’s the site of the only “proper” Brahma temple. Brahma is the Creator, one of the top three Hindu gods, the others being Vishnu and Mahesh. The other two gods have many temples. Like Mecca for Muslims, Pushkar is somewhere that all Hindus aim to visit at least once in their lives. They visit the Brahma temple and go to bathe in the lake to purify their sins.
Because of the religious importance, Pushkar has many strict rules. Pushkar is a dry city, so we had to do without alcohol for a couple of days, so no beer for Ronnie or Gin for Michelle. The city is also entirely vegetarian, and even eggs are prohibited. Fortunately Ronnie and Michelle were already vegetarian since arriving in India. Public displays of affection are also not tolerated, so Michelle was excused.
We took a walk into the heart of Pushkar.
Michelle was desperate to get some Henna done. After eating Indian food, it’s the next step to becoming Indian.
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Another of the many temples -
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A bit gaudy -
Pushkar has an annual Camel Fair that runs until the full moon which was 15 November this year (2019). It’s a huge animal show with around 40,000 camels for sale along with many horses etc.
See the unique ears pointing in of Indian horses
We took a camel ride in the desert to a campsite where we enjoyed a simple dinner and cultural show. The entertainment was provided by people from some of the local tribes who specialise in magic or music/dance. The magician enthralled us all, and the dancers were good, even outside in the dark around the camp fire
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Catching Tuk tuks to the camels -
We got dressed up in traditional costumes. Spot the Bindi (red dot) on Michelle’s forehead. Yet another step towards becoming Indian.
While we were in Puskhar, the mobile internet in India was switched off by the government to minimise the risk of religious violence due to a major decision by the Indian Supreme Court. There has been a long-standing dispute in Ayodhya between Hindus and Muslims over ownership of a historic site which has contained an important Hindu Rama temple or Islamic mosque at various points in the past. The Supreme Court resolved that the oldest archaeological evidence was that a Hindu temple was there first, so granted ownership to Hindus. A separate site and funding was identified for Muslims to build a new mosque, but religious protests and violence were expected as a result of the decision so hence the reason for the mobile internet being switched off. That way it is more difficult to coordinate protest groups.
Next stop Jaipur. Looking forward to beer/wine/gin.
