Pushkar Rose Flower Farming Ajmer Rajasthan

Pushkar town in Ajmer district of Rajasthan, situated around the sacred Pushkar Lake, is an ancient center of rose cultivation — particularly the Desi Gulab (Rosa damascena) old variety that has been grown in the lake's fertile basin for several hundred years for use as temple offerings at Brahma Temple and the thousands of temples around the lake. Pushkar rose fields bloom in winter (November-February) with thousands of pink-red blooms harvested at dawn before the essential oil volatilizes in the heat. The primary market for Pushkar rose is as temple offering flowers — garlands, loose petals for floating on the lake, and strewn petals for the ghats. A secondary commercial market uses Pushkar rose petals for rose water (gulab jal) distillation and gulkand (rose petal preserve) preparation. Pushkar gulab jal — produced by steam distillation of fresh rose petals in copper distillation vessels — has a distinctive floral freshness prized by Ayurvedic practitioners, sweet makers, and traditional cosmetics manufacturers. Gulkand, the petal-and-sugar preserve made by sun-fermenting fresh petals layered with sugar in glass jars, is a cooling Ayurvedic preparation consumed in summer to reduce body heat. Organic certified Pushkar rose products (rose water, gulkand, rose oil) are exported to UK Ayurveda retailers and Indian diaspora markets. About 200 farm families in the Pushkar valley cultivate Desi Gulab for these market channels.