Pushkar Fair in Rajasthan
home / fair and festivals / pushkar fair
No other event attracts as many tourists to Rajasthan as the famed Pushkar Fair. Once the fair was an event of note only to the local camel breeders and traders. Today, it has become a glitzy tourist event, with luxury Swiss tents for desert camping, air conditioned tour buses, and European cuisine being part of the tourist infrastructure for the visitors.

It is clear that the government of Rajasthan has invested much to ramp up the facilities for visitors and turn it into a tourism extravaganza. Whether this commercialization has been good or bad is not clear yet, for it has added to the comfort and safety of the visitor, and provided livelihood to thousands, apart from the participants at the fair.

The city of Pushkar itself has significant religious importance for Hindus, as it is considered one of the five holy places that a Hindu should visit once.

The city has the world’s only temple dedicated to Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe. Perhaps the fair originated from the shrewd business sense of local traders, who understood that crowded spots are always good for business.

The Fair is held in the months of October-November, and lasts five days. Five days of camel trading, traditional Rajasthani songs, dances, and puppet shows, beautiful desert belles dressed in gorgeous skirts with embroidery, and the desert nomads in their turbans and jooties.

It is a show like no other on the planet. There are stalls selling everything from snacks to handcrafted shoes, belts, carpets, kitchenware, pottery, terracotta figurines, metalware, beaded bags and clothes, and dyed fabrics. And here you come across one of the greater contradictions of Indian culture – camel sellers trying to drive the best bargains and buyers haggling over the terms, a very mundane affair; and on the other hand you have pilgrims bathing in the lakes by the temple of Brahma, praying for peace and forgiveness for sins committed.

That is the magic of Pushkar Fair, which in a way symbolizes life in India. It is a place where the traditions of the past mingle with the luxury of modernity, where people from diverse cultures are welcome, and where materialism and spirituality are not seen as contradictory, but complementary.