Aligning the Elements: Evening Arati at Pushkar

A stone throw’s distance from my home  across the Nag Pahar lies Pushkar. Often remarked as the place holding the only Brahma temple in the world, a fact which is at the most near to reality as there are other Brahma temple as well but of course very few. Some of the other places are Bithoor in Uttar Pradesh, India; Khedbrahma in Gujarat, India; Uttamar Kovil  near Srirangam, Tamil Nadu;  Temple of Besakih in Bali, Indonesia; and Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Having said that, these in no way undermines the importance of Pushkar in Hindu mythology, where the revered place is seen as “Tirth Raj” or the King of all Piligrimages.

Essentially a small cluster of temples and meandering narrow alleys, Pushkar had been the most common excursion while growing up in Ajmer. Crossing Nag Pahar to get to Pushkar used to give that adolescent kick of out of town travel on my own without prior permission.

Recently while at Pushkar, I fortunatley spent some time on the Ghats at dusk. Till now, Pushkar had just been about Brahma temple and getting back the delectable Malpuas from shops that promise a fortune if proven that the Malpuas are not made with pure Ghee.

The picture on the left depicts the mood of the time. The act of arati itself depicts an entire thought process of Hindu theology. It depicts that  our inherent physical tendencies when lit by the fire of knowledge which  of the truth, these tendencies burn themselves out completely thereby dissolving the fake sense of  individuality that keeps us separate from the Lord.

The atmosphere on the Ghats can be best depicted in oxymoronic expressions as it was loudly serene and boisterously down to earth. The evening arati venerates the holy lake and all of a sudden bells of the near 500 odd temples around the lake start ringing in frenzy. The sound and the vibrations seep into being deeper than the depths of the ears, the scent of amber and incense sticks travel much farther than the olfactory senses and one does realise man’s interaction with the elements that make 

him.

The picture on the right is that of the offering during the arati, it symbolically contains the elements of fire; earth; water; earth and ether. That drew my attention to this as a subject to photograph. The offering to Brahma at the arati comprised of all the elements that comprise the creation itself. Thus someone said it so apt – “Tera tujhko saup de, Kya lagat hai mor; mera mujhmein kuch naahi;

jo howat so tor” – Whatever is yours, I offer to you. There is nothing in me which is mine, whatever is there is yours.