The Hindu festival at Pushkar is celebrated for a week and culminates on the same day as the last day of the Camel Fair. The small town of Pushkar is spread around a holy lake that has been a pilgrimage destination for centuries. Devout Hindu’s from Rajasthan and neighbouring states visit the destination throughout the year to immerse themselves in the sacred water, but the numbers increase significantly during the days leading up to Kartik Poornima, one of the the holiest days in the Hindu lunar calendar.
Pushkar has semicircular lake with 52 'ghats'. The maximum depth of the lake is 10 mteres. It is a holy place and is known as king of all 'tiraths'. A holy dip in this lake on Karthik Purnima is said to wash all the sins and leads to salvation. It is said that the one who bathes in this holy water during the brighter fortnight of the Hindu calendar month Karthik and sees a Varah (an incarnation of Vishnu), will not take a rebirth on this planet again and can enjoy the heavenly bliss forever. The Karthik Purnima holy dip in this lake gives one a blessing equal to hundred penances. There are many yojana spots which can not be counted by the teacher of gods, Brihaspati.
How the name Pushkar came ahs a mythological story behind it. Once Lord Brahma was worried over the matter of not being prayed to on the earth like the other Gods. He had the desire to have a place on his name on the earth. So he threw a lotus flower which fell on three places and water sprang out from there miraculously. The first place where the flower fell is known as the Jyeshtha Pushkar, the second place is the Madhya Pushkar, and the third place is the Kanishtha Pushkar or Senior, Middle and the Junior respectively. Brahma threw the flower that is the 'Pushpa' with his own hands that is the 'Kar', therefore the name of this place became Pushkar.
