Condor Kristen: Holy Love in Holy Pushkar

While in Jaipur we took a day trip to Pushkar, which is the Hindu holy city – much like how Jerusalem is to the Catholic religion. According to the Hindu mythology, the gods released a swan with a lotus flower in its beak and let it fall on Earth. The place where it landed was Pushkar.

It is a remarkable city and actually one of the five sacred dhams (pilgrimage places for Hindus). Pushkar is also one of the oldest cities in India. The city surrounds a beautiful holy lake and there are over 50 temples set along the shore of the lake. A holy bath in Pushkar Lake is said to be salvation giving.

We visited one of the 50 temples and the only one dedicated to the Lord Brahma, Brahma Temple, which is a very important pilgrimage site for Hindus. We weren’t allowed to bring cameras in, so I don’t have photos but there are some beautiful ones on this website: http://www.molon.de/galleries/India/Rajahstan/Pushkar/.

A young Hindu boy showed us around the Temple, telling us stories of the deities and pointing out areas of the city where the stories took place. We prayed, received items to sacrifice in Lake Pushkar and reflected upon the beautiful ways of the Hindu culture. When Missy and I went to the Lake to let our sacrifices float away, two Hindu priests took our hands and blessed us right outside a yoga center on the shore.

Pushkar is a small city, probably more like a village, with very little to offer in terms of materials. However, the village offers ample amounts of history, religion and spirituality.