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Published: February 27th 2010
Pushkar Lake as a lake!
This is the half of Pushkar Lake still intact in early 2009 - the other half had been drained for dredging. Taken from Chundra Ghat at sunsetWhat does one say walking into beloved Pushkar to find the lake all but dry?
I first came to Pushkar in 1983. At that time the lake was full and clean with hundreds (if not thousands) of large carp-like fish (between half and one metre in length). I used to swim daily in this lake - much to the interest and amusement of the Hindu pilgrims who came in droves to do their puja at the lakes edge (and no further!).
Pushkar is a very special place for Hindus and more recently (the last 30 years at least) a haven for backpackers. The latter interest has grown Pushkar from a cute place to a bustling mecca of business (travellers who fancy themselves or successfully are making it as market/ shop sellers of Indian goods back in their countries of origin).
Pushkar is a town 14 klms north west of Ajmer in Rajasthan. It is one of the five sacred dhams (pilgrimage sites for devout Hindus) and is often called "Tirth Raj" - the king of pilgrimage sites. Interestingly - relatively little interest is shown by backpackers to the very significant Sufi Shrine at Ajmer - a place of
Pushkar Lake as a lake 3
Taken looking back at main ghat (Baraghat) - early 2009 immense beauty and importance to Muslims the world over. They (the backpackers) invariably just pass through Ajmer on a b-line to Pushkar.
Pushkar is one of the oldest cities of India. Legend associates Lord Brahma with its creation, who is said to have performed penance there for 60,000 years to gain a glimpse of Vishnu.
Pushkar has many temples - many reconstructed after they were destroyed during Muslim conquests. The most famous among all is the Brahma Temple built during the 14th century AD. Very few temples to Lord Brahma exist anywhere in the world. The Pushkar lake has 52 ghats where pilgrims descend to the lake to bathe in the sacred waters. Pushkar is also famous for its annual Pushkar Camel Fair, originally a mella for greater Rajasthan and beyond for camel trading - and now a major tourist event.
Pushkar in Sanskrit means “blue lotus flower”. Hindus believe that the gods released a swan with a lotus in its beak and let it fall on earth where Brahma would perform a grand yagna. The place where the lotus fell was called Pushkar.
The Ramayan mentions Pushkar and says that Vishvamitra performed tapa here. It
Pushkar Lake as a lake 2
Taken from the main ghat (Baraghat) - again the half of the lake that was still intact in early 2009 further says that the Apsara Menaka came to Pushkara to bathe in its sacred waters.
The Mahabharata says that while laying down a program for Maharaja Yudhishthara’s travel, “Maharaja after entering the Jungles of Sind and crossing the small rivers on the way should bathe in Pushkara". And, as per Vaman Purana, Prahlada on his pilgrimage to holy places visited Pushkarayana.
So what has happened to Pushkar to result in an empty lake? Well - of course there are many views on this depending on ones stand point and beliefs.
Trying to be objective, one would say that degradation of the natural environment of Pushkar and the sacred lake is due to a series of failed monsoons; over-development of tourist facilities with the pressure this exerts on local infrastructure and waste management; a failure of the Brahmin caste who virtually rule the place to arrest the use of toxic substances for pujas (this is disputed of course with even a claim that the lake was sabotaged by outsiders with poison); deforestation surrounding the area; and inadequate sewage reticulation infrastructure (common in many Indian towns and cities as they have grown).
Others (mainly locals) might say that
Baraghat pool
Feb 2010 - all that's left are a series of concreted pools for puja making - fed by piped town water (presumably from Ajmer) it is a karmic reaction to a loss of faith and proper homage to the gods. And this view would also encompass a concomitant very optimistic claim that ‘this too will pass’. Pushkar, as a sacred Hindu town, has a total ban on alcohol, meat and eggs. More than ever - this ban is ignored (surreptitiously) by many - both travellers and locals. There is also a tangible feel of ‘money rules’ across the town - with many Brahmins chasing the income surrounding the practice of sacred rites over and above the spiritual meaning behind them.
I was here last year. Apparently about 18 months ago, the lake went toxic and this made national headlines due to Pushkar’s significance for Hindus India wide. Hundreds of fish simple died and the water level going down.
And so a significant grant was made by the Indian Government for restorative work to begin. New canals to maximise water catchment, reconstructed walls at the point of entry for water flow, oxygenation of the water, and dredging of the lake bed to remove silt and increase depth.
These strategies seemed to be working in complete non-communication of each other. I had the
Sorry Pushkar Lake
Feb 2010 - a sorry state taken from about the same vantage as the 2009 sunset shot! chance to discuss this with an American (Indian born) engineer who was commissioned to do the oxygenation work in 2009. That strategy was seemingly working and I can confirm that I swam in that part of the lake in 2009 and saw healthy fish to boot.
However - half the lake at that time had been cordoned off with a mud wall and extreme dredging was going on in the empty half. The water was pumped into the other half while this was going on - with a plan to gradually dredge the lot. The concern for me (and I am not a geologist) which the engineer also held was: what does it to do to a lake’s integrity when you dredge thousands of years of silt? What happens to the ‘membrane’ that keeps the water in?
Well - guess what - after I had left in March 2009 - the mud wall is said to have collapsed - and all the remaining water flowed into the empty side and just drained away!
What to do?
One very strange and very worrying response has been the installation of 4 artificial (concrete trunks) trees with plastic leaves
around the lake!!!! Locals claim that anywhere between 1 and 4 laks (approx Aus $2,500 to $10,000) per tree was spent on this enlightened (!!) venture. No local has really been able to explain this to me - other than to say it was a crazy decision made by the Rajasthani Government (presumably using some of the Indian Government restoration money). What does this mean? One unfortunate and hopefully unintended interpretation would be that it truly represents acceptance that “this place no longer can sustain natural life”.
A Gurjara Pratihara (Gurjar parihar) ruler of Mandore, Nahadarava, got the lake restored in the seventh century by making an embankment on the side of the river Luni. He rebuilt old palaces and built twelve dharmashalas (resting places) and ghats on three sides of the lake.
So maybe (if one were optimistic) this represents a template for current restoration? However Nahadarava seems to have been more about the ascetics than the severe structural problems being faced now and certainly did not have to address climate change and growth driven pollution and lack of adequate infrastructure to cope with sewage etc..
To sum up though - I am not overly optimistic
about recovery - it would take some very good monsoons indeed (perhaps at least 3 in a row) to get the water levels up again - assuming the lake bed had integrity to hold the water. But then there is the larger question about the ability of Pushkar residents and visitors to adopt sustainable practices around the use of plastics and other toxic elements - and for sewerage and other storm water effluent to be dealt with properly. And on top of that - there has to be limits (indeed decreased levels) on the growth / usage of Pushkar in terms of tourism etc…
It’s hard to believe given how many temples there are in Pushkar - but I think maybe the number of guest houses and hotels are getting close to exceeding the number of temples?
A song-line to finish:
Pushkar Blues (sung to 12 bar blues)
Pushkar Lake Pushkar Lake - runnin’ round my head
Empty Lake Empty Lake - messin’ with my head
If it don’t rain soon baba
Pushkar gonna be dead
Baba pour me one more chai - and tell me it ain’t so
Baba pour me one more chai
Gobsmacked - fake tree!
The 'piece de resistance' - the amazing phenomen of the 4 concrete and plastic trees installed by the enlightened Rajasthani Government using at least Aus$10,000 of the 'restoration' funds! A statement of life at Pushkar? - and tell me it ain’t so
If the monsoon don’t come soon baba
It gonna be time to go
Let it rain let it pour - and garbage throwing in no more
Let it rain let it pour - toxic waste goin in no more
If that lake can fill again
We gotta care for it some more
Pushkar Raj - Sub Ki Raat - water all around
Pushkar Raj - Sub Ki Raat - water to be found
If I ever come back to Pushkar
Let that water abound
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Trisha
non-member comment
Fake tree, no lake
Gosh Paul, it must have been a shock! I still cant get over the fact that their was carp that big - and that you swam with them. I would have loved to have done that. But alas I cant do it now - no lake! But I suppose I could always go and sit under a fake tree and view a used to be lake. You dont do that everyday. Hope all is going well Trisha