Pushkar (Hindi: पुष्कर) is a town in the Ajmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is situated 14 km (8.7 mi) northwest of Ajmer at an average elevation of 510 m (1,670 ft) and is one of the five sacred dhams (pilgrimage site) for devout Hindus. According to Hindu mythology, the pond at the Katas Raj temple in Chakwal has a mythical association with Lord Shiva; it was formed by the tears of Lord Shiva which he is believed to have shed after the death of his wife, Satti. The story goes that when Satti died, Lord Shiva cried so much and for so long, that his tears created two holy ponds -- one at Pushkara in Ajmer in India and the other at Ketaksha, which literally means raining eyes, in Sanskrit. It is from this name that the word Katas is derived. It is often called "Tirth Raj" - the king of pilgrimage sites - and has in recent years become a popular destination for foreign tourists.

Pushkar is one of the oldest existing cities of India. It lies on the shore of Pushkar Lake. The date of its actual origin is not known, but legend associates Lord Brahma with its creation.

Sunanda Pushkar is an Indian celebrity and businesswoman. She was sales director in a Dubai-based real estate company Tecom. She is the third wife of well-known politician and former United Nations Under Secretary General Shashi Tharoor. This is also her third marriage. Her first husband was Sanjay Raina, a Kashmiri. After that marriage ended in a divorce, she married a Kerala businessman Sujith Menon but he died in a road accident in 1997. She has a 19-year-old, Shiv Menon,from her second marriage. In April 2010, she voluntarily relinquished a stake in the Kochi IPL team estimated at Rs 70 crore, belonging to a family of landlords and Army officers from Bomai, 8 km from Sopore in the Kashmir Valley, India.