Pushkar is a temple town. Apart from Pushkar lake which is considered extremely holy, it houses various ancient temples. One is the oldest is the Brahma temple. It is believed to be have been built by Sage Vishwamitra.
The whole town is just around the lake. The place is surrounded by hills. And on two hills on either side of the lake, there are two temples. One for Savitri and one for Gayatri, the two wives of Brahma. It almost feels like they are watching Brahma in his temple from the Hills.
What was fascinating was some very old temples, as old as 500 years old had a Dravidian temple architecture to them. In my entire trip, I never saw a temple with Dravidian architecture in Rajasthan. But Pushkar has many of them.
The Rama Vaikunta temple was a mishmash of all kinds of architecture. Look at the entrances. The first one outside is made with semi-circles is Rajput architecture. The one in the middle with a straight flat conical entrance is Mughal and the temple inside has Dravidian architecture. It’s all mixed up.
What was also South Indian were the temple priests. When I visited the Rama Vaikunta temple, the temple priests were talking in Tamil. I ask them how they landed up here and they said for 100 years or more all Vishnu temples in Pushkar had priests from Tamil Nadu only. However recently as they are not getting enough priests some temples have priests from other states. There is definitely a connection between South India and Pushkar that I need to dig out.
The temples have suffered some sort of destruction. They have been destroyed by Mughal rulers. Same story all across Rajasthan and probably entire India I would say. I was curious to find if the Hindus destroyed the temples of any other religions before building theirs. I will shut up now to avoid any controversies.
If you walk on the street, you will see a temple for every fourth building. And in a small crowded town like Pushkar, the maintenance of so many temples cannot be kept up to the mark. You will see quite a few sights like these where there is a gutter flowing near it, people residing and cooking in the temples and so on. It’s unfortunate but true.
There is a Gurudwara built newly in Pushkar. Guru Govind Singh visited Pushkar and the place he stayed is made into a Gurudwara. A Ghat is also named after him. Gobind Ghat. The Gurudwara is huge and is made from White Marble. It looks pretty.
For a seeker, Pushkar is a pilgrimage heaven. Tons of people visit Pushkar to visit the various temples. This includes people from India and around the world. Apart from the temples, the place has a Shiva vibe to it, if you know what I mean.
Endless thoughts 