Pushkar has 400 temples. Most of the temples are not very old because many temples were destroyed during Muslim conquests in the area. Subsequently, the destroyed temples were rebuilt. The most famous among all is the Brahma Temple built during the 14th century. Very few temples to Lord Brahma exist elsewhere in the world. Other temples of Brahma include Bithoor in UttarPradesh, Khedbrahma in Gujarat, village Asotra of Barmer district in Rajasthan; Uttamar Kovil (one of the DivyaDesams) near Srirangam ; Mother temple of Besakih in Bali, Indonesia; and Prambananin Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Brahma Temple (Main temple)

The temple is one of very few existing temples dedicated to creator-god Brahma in India and remains the most prominent among them.

Although the present temple structure dates to the 14th century, the temple is believed to be 2000 years old. There is deity of four headed Brahma with Gayatri on the left and Savitri on the right. Brahma’s central deity is made of marble and was installed in 718 AD by AdiShankara. Brahma is seated in a crossed leg position in the aspect of creation of the universe. It is of life size with four hands, four faces, each oriented in a cardinal direction. The four arms each hold the akshamala (chanting beads), the pustaka (book), the kusha grass and the kamandalu (water pot). These four symbols represent time, knowledge, system of sacrifices to be adopted for sustenance of various life forms in the universe and the causal waters from which the universe emerged. Brahma is riding on his carrier hamsa (swan). There are also deities of Indra and Kubera.

Timings

The temple is open for worship between 6:30 am and 8:30 pm during winter and 6:00 am to 9:00 pm during summer, with an interval in afternoon between 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm when the temple is closed.

The priests at the Brahma temple refer to a strictly followed religious practice. House-holders (married men) are not allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum to worship the deity. Only sanyasis can perform the puja to the deity.

Temples of Brahma’s Consorts

Brahma’s two consorts Savitri and Gayatri mentioned above also have separate temples for them in Pushkar, but on hills at opposite ends of the lake. The first consort Savitri, who cursed Brahma, is described to be still seating annoyed and enraged in her shrine on the highest hill in Pushkar, while Gayatri afraid of Savatri’s wrath sits at a lower hill at the other end, the eastern side of the lake.

Savitri temple located on the top of Ratnagiri hill, behind the Brahma temple, overlooks the Pushkar lake and the sand dunes on its western side. It is reached by one-hour trek over a series of steps on the hill.

Gayatri temple is on other side of town by Marwar bus stand.

Atpateshwar or Apteshwar temple

The Atpateshwar temple, which is situated in a cave next to the Brahma temple, is dedicated to Shiva. This temple was built by Brahma after he found that Shiva attended the Yagna performed by him in the garb of a tantric mendicant holding a skull. When Shiva was approached for this appearance, he was offended and filled the entire area of the yagna site with skulls. The agitated Brahma meditated to know the reason for such a situation, and then he realized that the mendicant was none other than Shiva. Realizing his folly, Brahma requested Shiva to attend the yagna. Shiva then attended the yagna holding the skull and Brahma in appreciation established a temple in honor of Shiva as ‘Atpateshwar’, next to his own temple. The Linga of Shiva is large and is encircled by a snake made of copper.

Varaha Temple

It has beautiful two feet high white deity of Lord Varaha. Lord Varaha is said to have come to Pushkar. The original temple was built in the 12th century.

There are two Raghunath (Lord Ram) temples in Pushkar, the old and new. The deities in the new Raghunath temple are Vaikunthanath and Lakshmi. The deities in old Raghunath temple, built in 1823, are Venugopal, Narasimha and Lakshmi.

Pushkar has been known as a holy place for millennia, and today various sites around Pushkar honor well-known Vedic sages who performed penance there, including Agastya, Pulastya, Parasara and Markendeya. It was at Pushkar that the heavenly maiden Menaka distracted Visvamitra, a warrior performing meditation to become a brahma-rsi, a brahmana sage. Later Visvamitra attained his goal at Pushkar.

Today, thousands of years after the time of Visvamitra, pilgrims still come to Pushkar to fulfill their desires. Those with the highest understanding pray to the holy place and its presiding deity, Lord Brahma to fulfill only one desire: that they may someday develop pure love for Krsna.

This history is found in the Padma Purana, Srstikhanda, Chapter 17:

Once Lord Brahma came to know that a demon, Vajranash, was killing people. Lord Brahma chanted a mantra on a lotus flower and killed the demon. During this process, the parts of flower fell on three places which were later known as Jyestha, Madhya and Kanistha Pushkar.

Later accompanied by brahmanas and other devas, or demigods, Lord Brahma went to Puskar to perform a sacrifice. To perform his yajna peacefully without being attacked by the demons, he created the hills around the Pushkar. Ratnagiri in the south, Nilgiri in the north, Sanchoora in the west and Suryagiri in the east and positioned demigods there to protect the yajna performance. Such Yajna sacrifices are to be performed along with one’s wife, so when the arrangements for the sacrifice were complete, Lord Brahma sent Narada rsi, the sage among the devas, to bring Sarasvati, Lord Brahma’s consort. But Sarasvati was not ready to leave, so Narada returned to Puskar alone.

According to astrological calculations, the sacrifice had to begin at once, so Brahma asked Indra, the king of the heavenly planets, to provide him a suitable wife to assist in the sacrifice. Lord Indra chose a cowherd girl, but the sacrifice required that the girl be of the brahmana caste. So the devas purified the girl, or elevated her caste, by passing her through a cow (into the cow’s mouth and out the other end), because in Vedic culture cows are considered pure and of the same caste as the brahmanas. The girl then became known as Gayatri, “one who was pulled through a cow.” She married Brahma and performed the yajna. When Saraswati arrived and saw that Brahma had married without her permission, so she cursed Brahma saying that he would be worshiped in Pushkar only. Saraswati (Savitri) also cursed Indra to be easily defeated in battles, Lord Vishnu to suffer the separation from his wife as a human, the fire-god Agni who was offered the yajna to be all-devouring and the priests performing the yajna to be poor. Endowed by the powers of yajna, Gayatri however diluted Saraswati’s curse, blessing Pushkar to be the king of pilgrimages, Indra would always retain his heaven, Vishnu would be born as the human Rama and finally unite with his consort and the priests would become scholars and be venerated. Enraged Saraswati (Savitri) went and established a temple on top of Ratnagiri, the hill a little south of Pushkar. Today pilgrims to Pushkar can visit temples of both Sarasvati Devi and Gayatri Devi. Sarasvati Devi is also present in this world in the form of a river. Five branches of that river Sarasvati, Supapra, Candra, Kanaka, and Nanda flow in the Pushkar area, but at present they are invisible to ordinary eyes.

It is also said that Lord Varaha appeared at Varaha ghat here, and Lord Rama came and bathed here. The sage Parasara is said to have been born here. His descendants, called Parasara brahmanas, are still found in Pushkar and the surrounding area.

The Vedic scriptures tell us that Lord Brahma was born from a lotus flower sprouted from the navel of Lord Garbodakasayi Visnu. Because Brahma was not born in the ordinary way, he is known as atma-bhü, “the self-born.”

Brahma is called the creator of the universe and he creates by the power invested in him by Lord Visnu. In fact, the position of creator, which Brahma occupies, is a post to which Lord Visnu assigns a highly qualified living entity. Though Brahma is posted above all the other devas except Lord Siva and Lord Visnu, his main qualification is that he understands himself to be an eternal servant of the Supreme Lord. Pilgrims to Puskar, aware of Lord Brahma’s exaltedness, generally petition Brahma for material rewards, such as elevation to the heavenly planets. But people with a higher understanding know that such rewards cannot match the gift of pure devotion to the Supreme Lord, which Lord Brahma can also give.

The first verse of the Bhagavatam says that the Supreme Lord awakened transcendental knowledge within the heart of Brahma. After much penance, Brahma realized that the Absolute Truth is Lord Sri Krsna, of whom all living entities including him are eternal servants. Lord Brahma is also the head of one of the four Vaisnava Sampradayas, or disciplic lines of devotees of Visnu or Lord Krsna. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is Krsna Himself, aligned Himself with the Brahma Sampradaya. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which descends from Lord Caitanya, is a part of the Brahma Sampradaya.