Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c27.s7.t5.61

v2.c27.s7.t5.61

The Brahma Temple.—By far the most conspicuous edifice is the shrine of the creator Brahma, erected, about four years ago, by a private individual, if we may so designate Gokul Parik, the minister of Sindhia; it cost the sum of 130,000 rupees (about £15,000), though all the materials were at hand, and labour could be had for almost nothing. This is the sole tabernacle dedicated to the ONE God which I ever saw or have heard of in India.¹ The statue is quadrifrons; and what struck me as not a little curious was that the sikhar, or pinnacle of the temple, is surmounted by a cross. Tradition was here again at work. Before creation began, Brahma assembled all the celestials on this very spot, and performed the Yajna; around the hallowed spot walls were raised, and sentinels placed to guard it from the intrusion of the evil spirits. In testimony of the fact, the natives point out the four isolated mountains, placed towards the cardinal points, beyond the lake, on which, they assert, rested the kanats, or cloth-walls of inclosure. That to the south is called Ratnagir, or ‘the hill of gems,’ on the summit of which is the shrine of Savitri. That to the north is Nilagir, or ‘the blue mountain.’ East, and guarding the valley, is the Kuchhaturgir; and to the west, Sonachaura, or ‘the golden.’ Nandi, the bull-steed of Mahadeva, was placed at the mouth of the valley, to keep away the spirits of the desert; while Kanhaiya himself performed this office to the north. The sacred fire was kindled: but Savitri, the wife of Brahma, was nowhere to be found, and as without a female the rites could not proceed, a young Gujari took the place of Savitri; who, on her return, was so enraged at the indignity, that she retired to the mountain of gems, where she disappeared. On this spot a fountain gushed up, still called by her name; close to which is her shrine, not the least attractive in the precincts of Pushkar. During these rites, Mahadeva, or, as he is called, Bholanath, represented always in a state of stupefaction from the use of intoxicating [775] herbs, omitted to put out the sacred fire, which spread, and was likely to involve the world in combustion; when Brahma extinguished it with the sand, and hence the tibas of the valley. Such is the origin of the sanctity of Pushkar. In after ages, one of the sovereigns of Mandor, in the eagerness of the chase, was led to the spot, and washing his hands in the fountain, was cured of some disorder. That he might know the place again, he tore his turban into shreds, and suspended the fragments to the trees, to serve him as guides to the spot—there he made the excavation. The Brahmans pretend to have a copper-plate grant from the Parihara prince of the lands about Pushkar; but I was able to obtain only a Persian translation of it, which I was heretical enough to disbelieve. I had many grants brought me, written by various princes and chiefs, making provision for the prayers of these recluses at their shrines.