The Garden of Eden occupies a central position in the Biblical narrative but no place resembling it is found in West Asia, perhaps because the Garden could have been located at Pushkar in the state of Rajasthan in Western India. The defining feature of the Biblical Garden of Eden is four rivers emerging from a Holy Mountain ( Genesis 2:10, Ezekiel 28:14 ). There are four rivers named Nahar, Dai, Sagarmati and Saraswati emerging from the Pushkar Mountains. These rivers emerge on the north, east, south and west respectively.
Brahma Pushkar lake (Image: Courtesy Bharat Jhunjhunwala)
Rivers and Lakes
There are also three lakes on the mountain—the Budha Pushkar, Madhya Pushkar and Brahma Pushkar, which used to be interconnected with each other. The water of the former lake overflowed into the latter. The sources of two of the four rivers emerge directly from these lakes while two spring from the foothills. The Nahar emerges from the Budha Pushkar to the north. The Dai and Sagarmati emerge from to the east and south from the foothills. The Saraswati emerges from the Brahma Pushkar lake in the west. Could it be that these four rivers are mentioned as Perath, Hiddekel, Pishon and Gihon respectively in the Bible?
Four rivers of Pushkar and their Biblical counterpart names (Map: Courtesy Bharat Jhunjhunwala)
The Holy Mount
The Book of Ezekiel says that Eden, the “Garden of God” was located on the “holy mount.” Pushkar is indeed located on a mountain, albeit one only 530 meters (1,148 feet) above the Mean Sea Level. The elevation of the city of Ajmer to its south is at 475 meters MSL (1,558 feet) thus, Pushkar is located barely 55 meters (180 feet) higher than the surrounding plains and scarcely qualifies as a mountain. However, Pushkar is located in a valley surrounded by higher mountains. One accesses Pushkar from Ajmer through a mountain pass. The Bible could refer to Pushkar as a “Mount” in reference to the higher mountains that surround it.
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Dr Jhunjhunwala acquired his Doctoral Degree in Food and Resource Economics from University of Florida in 1973. He has published the following books, and monoraphs: The Rhythm of History, (1989). Political Economy of Rig Veda and Ramayana (1993). Varna Vyavastha: Governance through Caste System (1999) and Common Prophets of the Jews, Christians, Muslims and Hindus , (2018). http://www.commonprophets.com/
Top Image : Krishna and Radha in the Garden ( SLRN / Adobe Stock )
