Most parts of Rajasthan are so dry that any small water body, even if it is postage stamp size, becomes a focal point for a human habitat. Jaipur, its capital, has only a couple of small dams ( Ramgarh and Kanota). This also explains the yearning of a Registhani person to visit a water body. I recall, most of our annual school picnics were to Amer. After a couple of picnics, nobody visited the fort and all were happy to spend time under the shade of large trees in the Amer lake-side Bagh. A jheel, talab, dam, pokhar were as essential for a picnic as the proverbial tree for shooting any romantic duet in the Bollywood movies from 1960s.
Pushkar is one such place, nestled in the midst of Aravali range, a stones throw away from Ajmer. The small natural lake at Boodha Pushkar is actually stamp size while the new man-made lake at new Pushkar can be called bigger only if you compare it with the old one. The historical Pushkar is the Boodha Pushkar which boasts of one of the few Brahma temples in India. Indians normally have an affinity for conjuring a worship place out of nothing. So it is a wonder that Brahma, who is one of the three most important deities ( Tridev: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the nurturer and Shiva the destroyer) does not have many other temples. Many mythological stories can be heard about the fallibility of Brahma, which are cited as the reason for such an anomaly.
One of the stories about Brahma that I recall being told in my childhood is as follows: Vishnu and Brahma had an argument over their pecking order in the Tridev. During the argument, an apparently endless pillar of fire appeared from nowhere. To decide the pecking order, both Vishnu and Brahma agreed that one who is able to find either end of the fire pillar first will be considered superior. Both went to find the opposite ends but neither was able to find it; the fire pillar seemed endless. Vishnu returned and admitted his failure. Brahma also did not find the end but caught the Mallika flower which had apparently fallen from the top. He then asked the Mallika flower to falsely bear witness to his reaching the end. Vishnu was about to concede defeat when Shiva appeared from the fire pillar and called out Brahma for his lie. He pronounced that due to this lie, Brahma will not have another temple. Pushkar was the only site at that time.
Another story that I heard during my recent visit to Pushkar is about Brahma participating in a yagna, where like all yagnas, one participates with one's wife. His wife, Savitri, was delayed. Brahma, instead of waiting for her, got a lady abducted and sit there as his wife, to fulfill the requirement for the yagna. A very angry Savitri cursed Brahma that he will not be worshiped. She also left Brahma to go and reside on a small hill in Pushkar, all by herself. The Savitri mandir, on top of a hill, is said to be the abode of Savitri after she left Brahma. Such stories, like many others, were (are) the fables of our culture. Each of these stories conveyed that the follies of even the highest of all lords are
not likely to go unpunished. In the present world though the message seems a little out of place :-).
The climb to savitri mandir is quite difficult, but with a recently installed rope-way, the footfall at this temple has increased tremendously. The temple is an unimpressive structure which does not look very old, but is nevertheless a revered site for the Hindus.
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It is specially popular with women who offer all sorts of cosmetics and grooming accessories.
Being on a hill surrounded by the valley on all sides, the mandir provides an eagle's eye view of the whole Pushkar town and this part of Aravali range. The surrounding low sandy hillocks are dotted with kikar and babool the ubiquitous vegetation of Rajasthan.
On any other day the climb would have been rather dry and hot as expected in the desert. Thankfully, there had been short cold showers in the week preceding our visit making the weather very refreshingly cool. The surrounding hills also were dotted with small patches of green here and there. In Jaipur, we have noticed that during the monsoons, the surrounding hills turns green almost magically overnight, making us forget that we are in a desert. At the end of monsoon, as the clouds turn their back, the grass dries and the hills turn brown again till the next monsoon. The view from Savitri mandir that day seemed half way there. The small patches of greenery almost seemed surprised to find themselves in the desert at this time of the year.
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