Top 6 Famous Picnic Spots in Pushkar is located in the state of Rajasthan in India. It is famous for the Pushkar Lake and Brahma Temple or Jagatpita Brahma Mandir which is believed to be only Brahma temple in the world. Pushkar is one of the most ancient cities of India and is is often called tirtha-raj, which literally means the king of pilgrim sites. Pushkar Lake which has many ghats where pilgrims bathe. Pushkar is also significant for its Gurdwaras for Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh.
One of the bathing ghats is called Gobind ghat built by the Sikhs in the memory of Guru Gobind Singh. It is a pilgrimage site for Hindus and Sikhs. Pushkar has many temples. Most of the temples and ghats in Pushkar are from the 18th century and later, because many temples were destroyed during Muslim conquests in the area. Subsequently, the destroyed temples were rebuilt. Pushkar city is located at approx 15km form Ajmer, 146km from state capital Jaipur, 403km from New Delhi, Top 6 Famous Picnic Spots in Pushkar.
Why Visit Pushkar?
The name Pushkar means “lotus flower”. A lotus was the weapon of Brahma, the Creator of the world in the Hindu religion. According to legend, a demon killed Brhma’s children and he struck the demon with his lotus, killing the demon. Petals of the lotus fell in three places, and one landed in Top 6 Famous Picnic Spots in Pushkar. That petal created Pushkar Lake and the important city that surrounds it.
Pushkar is unlike anywhere else in Rajasthan or the rest of the world. It’s a holy city in the Hindu religion and it’s bustling with pilgrims and devout worshippers. Pushkar is significant because Lord Brahma is worshipped there. There are only a few sites in the world where that is true. It’s said that a curse was placed on Brahma by his jealous consort, Saraswati. As a result of the curse, Saraswati vowed that no one else in the world would worship Lord Brahma. As a result, no new temples were erected to worship Brahma. This is why the Brahma Temple in Pushkar is so significant.
Where is Pushkar?
Pushkar is located in the Ajmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It’s 10-11 kilometers from the city of Ajmer. We visited Pushkar after leaving the city of Jaipur, which is 150 kilometers northeast of Pushkar. It’s separated from Ajmer by the Naga Pahar (Snake Mountain) and has an arid, desert climate. The city is built around the holy site of Pushkar Lake and its fifty-two bathing ghats. Top 6 Famous Picnic Spots in Pushkar is one of the best road trips and weekend getaways from Jaipur.
Places to visit in Pushkar
If you are searching for famous place in Pushkar then you come to the right place, today in this part we are trying to share all about famous place to visit in Pushkar and our real experience, so read this full blog and share your suggestion with us.
Pushkar Lake
Pushkar Lake, located in Pushkar, one of Rajasthan’s largest pilgrimage sites and the largest tourist destination, is believed to date back to the fourth century BCE. The Pushkar Lake is also mentioned in the inscriptions of Sanchi and this ancient pilgrimage site has been mentioned by Buddhist monks and Chinese traveller Fa Xian in his travelogues.
Pushkar lake has been worshipped as a holy pilgrimage site for the followers of Hinduism since its existence. According to mythology, Pushkar lake is built by Lord Brahma himself. The legend associated with this lake, built by Lord Brahma, must be heard by a local guide or local resident.
Between 1666 and 1708, the 10th Sikh Guru of Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, also spent time near the Pushkar Lake. Guru Gobind Singh Ji read the Guru Granth Sahib sitting on the banks of Pushkar Lake. The Mughal invaders broke almost all the ancient temples located around Pushkar and Top 6 Famous Picnic Spots in Pushkar.
After sometime when the Maratha Empire emerged in India and some Rajput kings got all the temples of Pushkar renovated. Around 500 ancient and new temples are built around Pushkar Lake, now it is up to you how many of these temples you can see.
A total of 52 ghats are also built on the lake, all these ghats have their own religious and mythological importance. Time must be taken for Gwalior Ghat, Gangur Ghat, Yag Ghat, Dadhich Ghat, Jaipur Ghat, Varaha Ghat, Karni Ghat, Kota Ghat, Govind Ghat, Saptarshi Ghat and Gau Ghat on Pushkar Lake.
Savitri Temple
Situated on the Ratnagiri hill of the Aravalli ranges in Pushkar, the Savitri Devi temple is dedicated to Goddess Savitri, the first wife of Lord Brahma. According to the legend, when Lord Brahma was sitting on the Yagvedi on the lake of Pushkar, Goddess Savitri was late when she came to the Yagvedi.
Lord Brahma married a second to avoid delaying the auspicious time. Lord Brahma, whom he married for another marriage, today we all know him by the name of Goddess Gayatri. After the completion of the second marriage, when Lord Bramha sat on the Yagvedi with his second wife Devi Gayatri, at the same time Goddess Savitri arrived at the place of Yagvedi.
Seeing someone else sitting in his place, Goddess Savitri cursed all the people present at the Yagya site in anger. Later when the anger of Goddess Savitri subsided, she went to Ratnagiri hill near Pushkar lake and started flowing like a river from there. Since that time, the Savitri Devi Temple dedicated to Goddess Savitri was built on the Ratnagiri hill.
The idol of Goddess Savitri, as well as the goddess Gayatri is enshrined in the Savitri Devi Temple. The Goddess Savitri is worshipped first in the temple and then Goddess Gayatri. From the temple, one can have very panoramic views of Pushkar city and Top 6 Famous Picnic Spots in Pushkar.
Watching the sunrise and sunset from the Savitri Devi temple provides a different experience. Due to the temple being situated on the Ratnagiri hill, you will have to climb 200 steps to reach here, which will cause a lot of fatigue.
Bramha Temple
There are more than 500 new and ancient temples in Pushkar. Of all these temples, the Brahma temple located here is the most ancient and important temple. Marble and stone were used in the construction of Bramha Temple, built in the 14th century.
A statue of Goddess Brahma along with his second wife Devi Gayatri is also installed inside the temple. A lot of mythological stories are heard about the construction of Brahma Temple in Pushkar. According to Padampuran, Brahma had dropped three lotus petals on the earth to create the universe.
Today, we all know the place where all these three petals fell on earth and fell in the name of Pushkar. The three places in Pushkar where the lotus petals fell became three lakes known as Pushkar Lake, Madhya Pushkar Lake, and Kanishka Pushkar Lake.
After the creation of the universe, Lord Brahma performed a yajna at Pushkar. Goddess Savitri, who was Lord Brahma’s first wife, was delayed in coming to the Yagya site and due to this, the auspicious time of yagna was delayed.
In order to avoid delay in the auspicious time of the yagna, Lord Brahma married the goddess Gayatri for a second time and sat down to worship at the yagnavedi, Top 6 Famous Picnic Spots in Pushkar.
After some time, when Goddess Savitri reached the place of sacrifice, she cursed Lord Bramha seeing someone else sitting in her place that Lord Bramha’s temple could not be built anywhere else in the world except Pushkar. Even today the Brahma Temple located in Pushkar is the oldest temple in the whole world, although there are temples dedicated to Lord Brahma in the countries around India.
The Mughal invader Aurangzeb had demolished almost all the ancient temples built in Pushkar, in which the Bramha temple was also severely damaged. In the 14th century, Adi Guru Shankaracharya got renovation done in the Brahma temple.
Rangji Temple
Built-in South Indian architecture and Rajput architecture, the Rangji temple looks completely different from all the ancient temples built in Pushkar. Seth Puran Mal Ganiwal, a resident of Hyderabad, built the Rangji Temple in 1823.
This temple is dedicated to Lord Rangji, considered an avatar of Lord Vishnu. Thousands of devotees come to the temple of Lord Rangji located in Pushkar to visit Lord Rangji from different corners of the country every year, Top 6 Famous Picnic Spots in Pushkar.
Apart from Lord Rangji, idols of Lord Krishna, Goddess Lakshmi and Sri Ramanujacharya have also been installed in the temple. The architecture of the Rangji Temple is completely different from other temples in North India.
The chief priests of the temple are people from the Ayyangar community of Tamil Nadu province of South India.
Varaha Temple
According to a legend associated with the Varaha incarnation of Lord Vishnu, once the demon Hiranyaksha takes the entire earth into the largest ocean of the universe. So Lord Vishnu incarnates in Varaha avatar to set the earth back in the universe.
After fighting with the demon Hiranyaksha for many years, Lord Varaha defeats Hiranyaksha and kills him. After that, by holding the earth on the two horns of his mouth, he sets it back to its original place in the universe. The Varaha Temple, dedicated to the third incarnation of Lord Vishnu, is one of the most ancient temples located in Top 6 Famous Picnic Spots in Pushkar.
The Varaha Temple, built in the 12th century, was built by the then Rajput ruler Maharaja Anaji Chauhan. The construction of the original temple was demolished in 1727 by the Mughal invader Aurangzeb, after which the then king of Jaipur, Sawaiman Singh, rebuilt the Varaha temple.
A large statue of Varaha incarnation of Lord Vishnu has been installed in the sanctum sanctorum of the Varaha temple, besides the rest of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu are also depicted in the temple with very beautiful hand workmanship.
Gau Ghat Pushkar
Apart from Varah Ghat, Gau Ghat situated on the Pushkar Lake is the most important ghat for religious rituals. The most visited pilgrims to Pushkar visit the Gau Ghat on the Pushkar Lake. The main reason for this is Gau Ghat is considered the most suitable ghat for religious rituals, Top 6 Famous Picnic Spots in Pushkar.
In Hinduism, a man is cremated after his death. After the cremation, the ashes of the dead person are kept in a vase and immersed in water with the full religious process on the Gau Ghat situated on Pushkar Lake.
According to Hinduism, after immersing the dead person’s bones in water, one gets liberation and his soul is freed from worldly bonds. The ashes of prominent politicians of the country like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri have been immersed at Gau Ghat.