Pushkar has been known as a holy place for millennia, and today various sites around Pushkar honor well-known Vedic sages who performed penance there, including Agastya, Pulastya, Parasara and Markendeya. It was at Pushkar that the heavenly maiden Menaka distracted Visvamitra, a warrior performing meditation to become a brahma-rsi, a brahmana sage. Later Visvamitra attained his goal at Pushkar.

Today, thousands of years after the time of Visvamitra, pilgrims still come to Pushkar to fulfill their desires. Those with the highest understanding pray to the holy place and its presiding deity, Lord Brahma to fulfill only one desire: that they may someday develop pure love for Krsna.