The number of Gods in Hinduism are 330 million

It is believed that Large no of Gods (lords) are worshipped in hindu mythology. The number of Gods in Hinduism are 330 million. Among which some are male diety are some are female . But not all people worship all of them. Individuals has belief in particular god. Some well known Male Diety are Lord Ganesha, Shiv Shankar, Krishna, Ram, Vishnu, Hanuman and female Diety are Maa Durga, Kali, Lakshmi, Sarswati, Santoshi, Narayani etc.

It is believed that Lord Brahma is creator of the world, Vishnu is maintainer or preserver and Shiva is the destroyer or transformer (Moksh data). Maha shivratri is celebrated every year on the 13th night /14th day of the Maagha in reverence of mahadev.

It is believed that ma gauri and lord shiv was got married at this night. Devotees chant shiv bhajans, shiv dhun, mangal arti, shiv parvati arti on this occasion. The Mahamrityunjay mantra of lord shiva is great death conquering mantra.

The Ganga river is confined in the infinite whirls and swirls of lord Shiva. She actually originate from the matted hair lock of Lord Shiva. Devaghar (Jharkhand) is famous shrine of Lord shiva. Every year lacs of Kanwar go there in the month of Sawan.

Devotees are called kawariya. Devghar is also famous as bolbum. On the way of Bolbam Devotees enjoy bolbam bhajans and songs a lot. Mahakaleshwar, Amarnath, Ganga Sagar etc are also popular shrines of Lord Shiva, kailash was the living place of lord shiva.Ma durga is diety of shakti. Every year people celebrate navratri twice. One in the month of Chait (April) and Other in the month of Ashwin (October).

This festival is celebrated nine days & in each day particular form of devi is worshipped. First day shailputri, Second day brahmcharini, third day chandraghanta, forth day kushmanda, fifthday skandmata, sixth day kathyayni, seveth day kaalratri, eighth day mahagauri and ninth day siddhidaatri is worshipped.

People hear and enchant navratri bhajans, navratri songs, durga chalisa,durga saptsati etc. After 20 days of navratri we celebrate diwali in which mata lakshmi and Lord Ganesha are worshipped and after 6 days of diwali we celebrates chhath in which people worshipped lord sun. people gives aragh to surya dev in the river and chhath is also known as surya shashti. Although it is observed most elaborately in Bihar, Jharkhand, Eastern UP and the Terairegions of Nepal in modern times.

Ma Lakshmi is known as Diety of Wealth and prosperous and Ganesha is god of gud luck amd son of mata parvati.Ganesha is also known as vighnanasak, vighnaharta,ganpati bappa. In Maharastra people celebrate ganesh Chaturthi on large scale and a chant ganpati bappa morya is also very famous at maharastra. Siddhi Vinayak is famous shrine of Ganesha. Sirdi Sai temple of Sai is near by Pune which is situated in Maharastra. Guru Nanak Gurpurab also known as Guru Nanak's Prakash Utsav, celebrates the birth of the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak. This is one of the most sacred festivals in Sikhism.

Gogaji also known as Jahar Veer Gogga is a folk deity, worshiped in northern states of India especially in Rajasthan and Uttar pradesh. He is a warrior-hero of the region, venerated as a saint and a 'snake-god'. Gorakshanath (also known as Gorakhnath) was an 11th to 12th century Hindu Nath yogi, connected to Shaivism as one of the two most important disciples of Mats yendra nath, the other being Caurangi.

Pushkar : Where a bath in the lake and worship at the temple of Brahma is said to give one salvation

With a civilisation of more than 5000 years, India has a legacy of temples, monuments, palaces and sculptural masterpieces of inimitable aesthtic grandeur. During this historic process, a bewildering variety of races, religions, cult, languages and customs was produced. India's amazing diversity is also shown in her religions and religious places.

One of the famous religious places is Pushkar in Rajasthan where a bath in the lake and worship at the temple of Brahma is said to give one salvation. Pushkarji is situated in an enchanting valley of the Arravali hills, 11 kilometers north-west of Ajmer, where the temple is dedicated to Lord Brahma.

"Pushkaradhipati Tirthani Gangadhayasaritasthata" which means that in pilgrim places Pushkar occupies the highest place as sacred Ganga occupies the place among rivers. Significance of Pushkar has been mentioned in Ramayana, Mahabharata, Buddha and Jain mythology.


Mythological Significance

The Pushkar lake is believed to have had a miraculous origin and Brahma performed a yajna on its banks. Legend has it that a demon called Vajra Nabha, living in Pushkar, had killed the children of Brahma and in revenge Brahma killed him with a lotus stalk. As he did so, petals from the lotus flower fell at three places in Pushkar where three lakes arose, Jyeshtha the main one, Madhyama the middle one and Kanishtha the small one. Lord Brahma was cursed by Lord Shiva not to be worshipped, but he is worshipped at this place because his wife Gayatri refused to have a shrine dedicated to her, unless Brahma also had his shrine there. Though there is no cult of Brahma, he is invoked in all the major and minor sacred ceremonies. According to Vedas, he originated directly from the Supreme Being. His attributes are his four heads, each one holding sway over a quarter of the Universe and the four Vedas are supposed to have emanated from his heads. He is, therefore, known as the god of wisdom.


Worship at Pushkar

Pushkar lake is famous for its sanctity and holy water. A holy dip from three to six a.m. on the day of Kartik Purnima (Full moon) ,some time in November,is considered most auspicious. Delicate clay lamps on leafy dishes, are lighted and allowed to float over the sacred lake.To commemorate the Great Yagna, a five day fair is organised when lakhs of people congregate at Pushkar, take a holy dip on all the five days in the lake and worship at Brahma temple. An outstanding feature of this fair is that people from all religious faiths attend this fair.

There are 400 temples in Pushkar and the most important amongst them are dedicated to Lord Brahma, Shiva, Badri Narayan, Rangjee, Gayatri, Savitri and Varaha. The lake, elliptical in shape, is encircled by 52 ghats built over the years by several kings and nobles. The important ghats are Varaha Ghat, Brahma Ghat and Gau Ghat. It also has seats of Vallabhacharya and Nimbarkacharya community. There are three Pushkars - Jyeshtha, Madhyama and Kanishtha. The last one is popularly known as 'Boodha Pushkar'. Performing oblations at the three Pushkars on foot is known as "Panch-kosi-Parikrama" as 16 Kms. distance is covered while performing it.


Cattle Fair

With lakhs of devotees congregating at Pushkar every year, cattle traders started selling cattle to the highest bidder. Later, the Rajasthan State Department of Animal Husbandary took the initiative to start a Cattle Fair in a well-organised way. Besides sale of cattle, various other government and non-government organisations participate in the exhibition organised at the Mela ground. Handicraft and rural artisan products from Punjab, Haryana, U.P., M.P. and all over Rajasthan are brought for sale. Cultural programmes , Kavi-sammelans and an unusual spectacle of camels racing and jumping can also be seen.

The events worth witnessing are dancing horses, dancing camels and laddu camel event, where the winning camel carries the maximum human load. In the evening a cultural bonanza spectacular variety of programmes with famous folk songs and folk dances of Rajasthan are organised for mass entertainment.

Mela ground on the final day provides a rare occasion where tying the turban in Mewari, Mewati, Dhudhani, Marwari, Jaisalmeri and Bikaneri styles in multicolours can be seen.


An International Tourist Spot

Initially people thronged to Pushkar to have a holy dip in the lake and worship Lord Brahma. Later the fair took prominence as the biggest cattle cum religious fair of Northern India.

Currently thousands of foreigners in join the festivities of the fair on all the five days and especially on the finale of Kartik Purnima day when various games of cattles, tug of war of men and women in between foreigners and rural farmers of Rajasthan and variety of entertainment programmes are organised. Tourism department has taken over most of the activities of Pushkar fair and the fair is now a major attraction of foreign tourists. A separate tourist village with Swiss cottages and shamiyanas is picketed for foreign and local tourists. The gradual impact of western culture and life style is evident on old Indian religious culture of Pushkar inhabitants. Local Pandas can be seen conversing with foreigners in broken English. Though it has gradually become an international tourist spot yet Indian spritualism, philosophy, culture and rural folk life still continue to dominate this major fair.

The tradition of Amarnath Yatra

The tradition of Amarnath Yatra dates back to ancient times. According to legend the cave is situated at the place where Lord Shiva had given amrit (nectar) to the gods of the Hindu pantheon who wished to attain immortality. It is believed that Lord Shiva adopted the shape of an ice-lingam which still exists in the cave. It is in this context that the place has been mentioned as Amrishwar by Kalhan, the famous Kashmiri poet-historian of yore in his Raj Tarangni.

The Yatra was abandoned for a long time due to devastating floods and other natural calamities in the valley. In those years it was impossible to even locate the sacred cave. A local Muslim family called Maliks residing in Mattan is said to have re-discovered it. when the head of the family was grazing his herd of sheep in the area, he reached the cave and saw the ice-lingam and a couple of pigeons coming out of it. He told the Pandits of Mattan about the cave and accompanied them to show it. The Yatra was thus revived. The successive generations of the Malik family of Mattan have since then been taking an active part in preparation of the Yatra and they get a share of the offerings at the cave.

According to another legend, Rishi Bringesh was once approached by people who were desperate to seek the path of salvation. The sage instructed them to undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Cave for their salvation. But the pilgrims were harassed by Rakshasas, the demons. Thereupon, Rishi Bhringesh prayed to Lord Shiva and with his grace a spectre was bestowed upon him to ensure safe pilgrimage to the Cave. Since then this has been the symbol of protection to the caravans of pilgrims and has now taken the form of Chhari Mubarak (silver mace) which leads the yatra in the traditional manner after the pooja at the famous Raghunath Temple in Jammu.

The Cave of Amarnath is only about fifty kilometers from Pahalgam in south Kashmir. However, this distance is not the same as in the plains of the country. It is an arduous admixture of tough walking, trekking and pony-riding, Palanquins are also used in some cases while negotiating the path through tortuous mountains.

Pahalgam, the base camp where the bus-terminus is located, is at hight of 9,000 feet above sea-level. A pilgrim has to cross an altitude of 9,500 feet at Chandanwari, just 14 kilometers away from Pahalgam. The pilgrims have to do a very difficult climbing to reach Sheshnag, 12 km away. The height to be gained to reach the next stop, Panjtarni, is 2,200 feet. Ascending further from Panjtarni involves a steep climb to Mahagunus Pass at 14,000 feet. In the last stage of the yatra, however, a pilgrim has to undergo a descent of about 1,000 feet to reach the Holy Cave located at a height of about 13,000 feet above sea level.

The Kashmiri labourers, invariably all Muslims, help the pilgrims throughout. The pilgrims traverse the route chanting "Har Har Mahadev" and "Amarnath Swami Ki Jai". The Muslim helpers join them by saying "Ya Peer Dastgeer". The Yatra culimates on the full moon day of August.

Pilgrims intending to join the Yatra are expected to be medically fit. They have to register themselves at any of the J&K Government Tourist Offices located in Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Jammu and Srinagar. Two thousand five hundred pilgrims are allowed inside the Holy Cave every day during the season. Faith can move mountains, so goes an old adage. With a little variation to the saying, it is hoped that the yearning for Moksha (salvation) can move the devotees to the challenging heights of Kashmir.