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Trading Places
Published in the October-December 2009 issue.

The Rajasthani desert town of Pushkar is an important religious centre that livens up considerably during its annual camel fair, as Nicola Corthay discovers.

At sunset, flocks of bats appear against a sky washed as orange as the saris of the local Rajasthani women. Fires spring out of the gathering dusk as mothers prepare evening meals for their families: a thousand points of burning light reflecting off bangles and intricate silver jewellery. Shadows lengthen over the sand-dunes as the temple bells call pilgrims to evening prayers.

As night falls, devotees chant from the ghats, reciting sacred texts as holy flames illuminate their faces. When they've completed their puja, the pilgrims set tiny oil lamps onto boats made of leaves, surrounding them with marigold and rose petals. In the light of the full moon, the miniature craft float into the dark waters of the lake, flickering spots of light wavering through the dark.



It's Pushkar Fair time, and evening makes it even more magical. This is much more than a simple fair: it's also a religious festival, giant marketplace, agricultural show and general amusement park. Above all, it's a time for celebration, and the sort of wheeling-dealing that has this usually sleepy little desert town buzzing.

It all began in a moment of contemplation: according to sacred Hindu scripts, the lake on which Pushkar now sits was created by Lord Brahma at the place where he let a lotus blossom fall from his hand. Water gushed from the spot where the petals fell onto the stony earth, and the lake that formed was named Pushkar, which means 'lotus'. The event has made Pushkar, a modest town in the westernmost state of Rajasthan, one of India's five most sacred places and an important site of pilgrimage.

Thousands of devotees flock here from all over India at the time of the full moon in the month of Kartik (October/November) to pray at the temples and bathe in the waters of the lake. Religion apart, Pushkar is a charming town of white, cubist buildings, set at the lake's edge and framed by a backdrop of barren hills. Most of the time, it's a peaceful place that contrasts sharply with the bustle and confusion of most Indian towns, and many tourists end up staying here longer than they anticipate, appreciating the serenity.



A staggering 400 temples are dotted around Pushkar, and more than 50 bathing ghats, with steps leading down into the lake - a dip in the holy waters allegedly absolves bathers of their sins. Even tourists get roped into the proceedings by priests looking for donations; before I knew it, I was clutching a coconut shell and scooping water over my head as a priest rubbed a mixture of rice and red paste onto my forehead. Only later did I find his prayers came at a price - though, to judge from the hellish punishments outlined in some temple paintings, it was money well spent.

The Temple of Brahma, the most significant of Pushkar's many places of worship, is one of only a very few temples in the world devoted entirely to Brahma, the Lord of Creation. The temple has a red spire atop a blue-and-green base, and the stepped platform on which it is built offers good views across the surrounding desert. The shrine is usually packed with pilgrims, who flock here to pray in front of the four-faced, silver-eyed statue of Brahma. Women's jewellery and bangles tinkle and their red and pink saris bring splashes of colour to the darkened interior, while the menfolk seem almost austere, clad in plain white garments enlivened only by their glorious red and orange turbans and splendid handlebar moustaches.

Two other temples particularly worth visiting are those of Savriti and Gayatri, lying outside the town on the summits of two hills. The hike up takes about an hour and a half but the walk is worth it, for the stunning views it affords over the town, lake and surrounding hills. Because of the temples' respective orientations, it is recommended you visit Gayatri at sunrise and Savriti at sunset. At both, you'll find tranquillity, blazing skies and clear vistas.



Most of Pushkar's temples can be visited by tourists. As Pushkar is a holy city, a little discretion with respect to your dress and behaviour is advised - and not just within temple precincts. Public displays of affection between members of opposite sexes are frowned upon, for instance. Alcohol is banned and food here is strictly vegetarian, though it's surprising how inventive the local cuisine can be. Roadside vendors also offer plenty of snacks, tea and juicy lengths of refreshing sugarcane. The   smell of popcorn and roasting peanuts is one of the town's most distinctive characteristics.

The reputation of Pushkar as a religious centre may make it sound like an austere place, but nothing could be further from the truth. Worshippers make up just one part of the vast crowds that flock to the city at this time of year. Traders from right across Rajasthan arrive in droves to the vast livestock market held on the sandy flats to the west of the city. Entire families lumber into town on carts, bringing with them collapsible tents, baskets of provisions and their animals.

The Pushkar Fair is undoubtedly the biggest camel fair and is considered the biggest cattle fair in the world, with many local breeds including Mewati, Gir and Nagauri cows on show. More exotic for overseas visitors, perhaps, are the 50,000 or so camels that are bartered here within a the space of a few days.



The camels stand in great herds, kicking up clouds of dust as they shuffle impatiently, snorting and occasionally spitting at passers-by. In every colour, from the palest fawn through to biscuit-brown and black, they stand, looking down their noses at the crowd, or collapse on the ground in awkward-looking positions, gangly legs sprawled out in implausible directions as they rest.

With their odd-shaped bodies, arched necks, rubbery lips and long, romantic eyelashes, Rajasthani camels look like absurd creatures. But in Rajasthan, they are highly regarded - and these useful beasts are taken especially seriously at the Pushkar Fair. It takes hours of patient discussion and assessment before traders will bid for a camel in one of the many, frantic auctions, and a healthy young female animal exchanges hands for a small fortune.

All care is taken to make the camels look presentable, and one of the greatest enjoyments of the fair is to watch as they are washed, sprayed with perfume - strong body odour being a less attractive feature of the beast - and brushed. Some owners even pay specialists to trim their camels' coats into complex geometric patterns. These ships of the desert are then festooned with colourful ceremonial harnesses: strings of beads, pink pompoms, necklaces of red and turquoise beads and even silver tinsel.



While the canny traders adorn the camels, their wives are hawking everything from brass pots and plastic combs to camel dung, always useful as fuel for the evening fire. Rajasthani clothing, silver jewellery, just about anything of a religious nature, enamel-ware, block-printed silks and filigree work are among the many specialities of the region. Embroidered materials, in particular, are an excellent buy: don't miss the chance to barter for brightly-coloured bedspreads, cushion covers and shoulder bags.

Away from the important trading action, there's a carnival atmosphere and plenty more to enjoy. The spectacle extends throughout the town - not just in the marketplace but in the encampments along the dunes, by every roadside, along the narrow streets of the town and down by the shores of the lake.

There are competitions and prizes for the best sheep, goats, cows, and fruit and vegetables. Jugglers toss fiery batons high into the air and cartwheel through the crowds. Over on the edge of the encampment, yelling gamblers exchange wads of money prior to the start of camel, horse and donkey races. Camels fly along kicking up clouds of dust, jockeys swaying precariously from their humps.

Musicians, meanwhile, play extraordinary traditional Rajasthani music which, to the uninitiated, is a chaotic but thrilling banging of drums, blowing of whistles and singing in high-pitched screams. If all this isn't enough to excite you, there's always the giant ferris wheel or a ride on an alarmingly rickety rollercoaster.

I don't brave the rollercoaster but try just about everything else. I stagger back to my hotel, laden down with sandalwood incense sticks, a green plastic Lord Brahma, bag of peanuts, multi-coloured bedspread, shoulder bag covered in tiny pieces of glittering mirror glass, enough bangles to serve as gifts well into the next decade, and some award-winning oranges.

To my eternal regret, I missed out on one thing: I never plucked up the courage to buy a camel. •

Photography by Nicola Corthay.


TRAVEL FACTS

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getting around

where to stay

when to go
  • The Pushkar Fair is held annually in October or November, the exact dates changing with the lunar calendar. This year, it runs between 25 October and 2 November.

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