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Vaishno Devi Yatra Pilgrim |
 The
legend goes that more than 700 years
ago, Vaishno Devi, a devotee of Lord
Vishnu, used to pray to Lord Rama and
had taken vow of celibacy. One day,
Bhairon Nath, a demon-God, saw her and
gave chase. The Goddess felt thirsty
at Banganga and shot an arrow into the
earth from where water gushed out. Charan
Paduka, marked by the imprints of her
feet, is the place where she rested.
She then meditated in the cave at Ardhkanwari.
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 Nestling
on top of the Trikuta Hills at a height
of 1,700 mts is the sacred cave shrine
of Vaishno Devi, the mother goddess.
At a distance of 61 kms from Jammu,
the cave is 30 meters long and just
one-and-a half mts high. At the end of
the cave are shrines dedicated to the
three forms of the mother goddess �
Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasarasvati.
Pilgrims have to enter in small groups
through a narrow opening and walk through
ice-cold waters to reach the shrines.
According to legend, the mother goddess
hid in the cave while escaping a demon,
whom she ultimately killed. |
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 The
shrine of Vaishno Devi is approached
through Katra, which lies 13 kms from
the shrine and is the base for the pilgrimage.
From Katra, pilgrims climb one km to
Banganga, where the goddess is believed
to have stopped to drink water; six
km further is the cave shrine of Ardhkunwari,
where it is believed she meditated for
nine months. |
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