About an hour after arriving in Ajmer, we were taken to the famous Durgah of Khwaja Muin-ud-din Chisti, the tomb of a venerated Sufi saint. Our guide informed us that if you were to ask anything of God with an open and pure heart while standing at the shrine itself, your wish would be granted. So we each donned a head covering and took part in a simple offering. It was truly an amazing experiance, and one that was very very different from that of any hindu monument ive been too. Everyone was quitely praying, no shop keepers or peddlers were hastleing you, and the scent of jasmine and rose filtered out any unpleasantness from the streets below. It was a singular experiance, and one im extremely thankful to have had. The Muslim population is a minority in India, but is still quite substantial, and the Islamic holidays are observed as openly and devotedly as the Hindu holy days. Its definatly great to be here During festival time.But more on that later.
Yesterday, we were driven over to Pushkar, a town about 20minute away from Ajmer, to visit the holy temple and lake dedicated to Brahma. Throughout India, the majority of temples and holy sites are typically dedicated to the Hindu Gods, Vishnu, or Shiva (or thier various incarnations). However, rarely if ever is there a monument dedicated to Brahma, the third deity in the Hindu holy trinity. This is because (according to our guide), that in a fit of jelousy over his taking a second wife, Savitri, Brahmas first wife declared that though always respected by the people, no monuments would be built in Brahmas honor. As a result, rarely if ever do you find a monument to Brahma in any temples. The only exception to this rule is Pushkar lake, which was said to have formed when Brahma, while battling a demon, dropped a lotus flower onto the earth. The force of the petals falling caused three springs to erupt from the ground, leading to the formation of three round lakes, the largest of which is Pushkar. Because this is one of the only sites in India, dedicated to Brahma, it is therefore considered extremely holy. They say that if one was to bathe at within the waters of the lake itself, you would be absolved of all sins, so we took part in a small Puja (prayer) ceremony in order to fully appreciate the site itself. However the experiance itself was a little bit soured, as the pandit who was performing the rituals for us, began to demand money in donation to the temple itself. Sensing that we were obviously foreigners, we were hasseled into donating more than the other worshippers. As a result we were pretty annoyed that rather than focusing on the beauty and holyness of the site, the focus was placed more on money than devotion....but i guess even the pundits need to make a living.
We headed back to the hotel just in time to catch our train to Jaipur. It was a 2 hour train ride, which i spent mostly sneezing because somehow in this 35 degree heat ive managed to catch a hell of a cold. But it's alright cuz my Ba is here to look after me...hahhaha...
Aywho...enough out of me for tonight...im gonna go crawl into my bed and hope that tomorrow my face has turned back to normal, instead of the snot factory/faucet that it's turned into
Have a good night peeps!
- kirti
No comments:
Post a Comment