"Pushkar, Camels, and Kartika Purnima" a Pushkar Travel Page by Waxbag

Pushkar is a holy city that has several claims to fame. It is oriented around the Pushkar Lake where ghats (steps) rise up out of the lake?s edge up to temples. There are over 400 temples in Pushkar but the most famous is the Brahman temple, unique in all of India. The medieval town is a maze of small streets and alleys packed with bazaars, cafes, and hotels. The entire town rests in a valley with temple-studded mountains. The town is famous for its Pushkar Camel Fair. It is a weeklong event that mixes the trading of an estimated 50,000 camels from the numerous Rajasthani villages across the state and a religious pilgrimage where two million people come to the lake to bathe on Kartika Purnima. Every year on the full moon of Kartika, Hindus come from all over India to cleanse their sins in the lake.

They descend the ghats that completely surround the lake to wash. The small town that normally has a population of 15,000 is bombarded by the throngs of people who come by buses, by foot, or by camel. The small streets of the main bazaar overflow with people making their way to the Brahman temple or to the lake?s ghats. Several days before Kartika Purnima, thousands of tribal people around Rajasthan bring huge herds of camels to the dunes on the outlying parts of town. They sell and trade these ?ships of the desert? before joining the celebrations. Camel races, horse dancing, street theater, Ferris wheel rides, and thousands of stalls selling everything from handicrafts and axes to sweets and chai have turned this camel trading and holy pilgrimage into a real carnival that draws those from all over the subcontinent and the world. The town is frenetic with street performers, musicians, comedians, holy men, traders, tourists, filmmakers, pilgrims, cows, camels, and beggars. Smells of spices, sweets, and incense waft at every turn occasionally mixed with rotting garbage, urine, and the acrid smell of burning. Dancing color and shimmering light meld in a kaleidoscope of moving and pulsating pilgrims in the narrow alleyways. Sounds that please and shatter your eardrums rise up through the dusty streets. Melodic singing, hypnotizing drumming, thumping techno, screeching Hindi music, horns, and whistles will assault you with such ferocity you feel the sound bounce inside your ribcage. From marching musicians and dancing girls to parading priests and chanting Hare Krishnas you never know what will process through the streets creating traffic jams of undiluted noise and motion.

Beggars afflicted with polio, leprosy, or other maiming diseases now unknown in our country ply the middle of the streets seeking alms. Many have no limbs and wear nothingbut a tiny rag as they slide or roll on the ground while pushing a metal bowl ahead with the nub of what is left of an arm. Some have a small plank on wheels that they lie on as their legs lie twisted on their backs atrophied and useless. They motor themselves with blocks tied to their limbs. This place is untamed and dramatic. It is right in your face, sensory overload, magical madness! The Pushkar Camel Fair is a spectacle like nothing else on earth.