Vaishno Devi Temple
Vaishno Devi Temple, also known as the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Temple and Vaishno Devi Bhavan, is a Hindu temple in Katra, Reasi district, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Dedicated to Vaishno Devi, a manifestation of godesses Mahakali, Mahalakshmi, and Mahasarasvati, it is on Trikuta mountain at an elevation of 5,200 feet. The Shakti tradition considers it to be a Shakti Pitha. The temple is 43 km from the main city of Jammu and 29 km from the district headquarters Reasi town. The temple is governed by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board and has been chaired by the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir since August 1986.
It is one of the most popular Hindu pilgrimage sites in India, with millions of devotees visiting the temple annually. In 2023 SMVDSB reported 9.52 million pilgrims.
History
Although the Vaishno Devi temple is now the most popular Devi shrine in the region, its popularity is relatively recent. In 1971, when Inderjit Bhardwaj did a study of Devi shrines in the Siwalik mountains, he did not mention the Vaishno Devi temple as particularly important.. Its popularity increased rapidly after an expansion was done in 1976 so that it could accommodate up to 5,000 visitors per day. By 1981, annual visitors to the shrine were about 900,000; by the early 1990s, the number had increased to over 3 million, and the Vaishno Devi temple had become by far the most popular Devi temple in the region. By 2007, the annual number of pilgrims was about 7.5 million. In June 2007, in order to reduce congestion and improve security, the Shrine Board reduced the limit on the number of visitors allowed per month.The Vaishno Devi temple was in existence by 1846, when Maharaja Gulab Singh established the Dharmarth Trust to manage several temples in his territory; the Vaishno Devi temple was part of this trust. The trust remained in the hands of Gulab Singh's descendants after independence, and his descendant Karan Singh was responsible for administering the temple as the hereditary trustee until 1986, when Jagmohan, then governor of Jammu and Kashmir, passed legislation transferring control of the Vaishno Devi temple from the Dharmarth Trust and the hereditary priests to a separate Shrine Board.
Legends
The temple, at a height of is 12 km from Katra on Trikuta hill. It is about 61 km from Jammu city. A geological study of the Holy Cave has indicated its age to be nearly a million years. There is also a mention of the Trikuta hill in Rigveda, the place where the temple is located.The Mahabharata, which gives the account of the Pandavas and the Kurukshetra War, does mention the worship of goddess Vaishno Devi. Before the Kurukshetra War Arjuna is said to have worshipped Durga by the advice of Lord Krishna for the blessings. Pleased by his devotion, Mother Goddess appeared in front of him in the form of Vaishno Devi. When goddess appeared, Arjuna started praising her with a stotra, in which a Shloka goes by saying ‘ Jambookatak Chityaishu Nityam Sannihitalaye ’, which means ‘you who always dwell in the temple on the slope of the mountain in Jambhu’ probably referring to the present day Jammu. Former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Jagmohan says, "the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine is an ancient one whose antiquity is pre-Mahabharathan, Lord Krishna is believed to have advised Arjuna to go up in the hills of 'Jambhu' and seek the blessings of Vaishno Devi before taking up arms in the battlefield. 'Jambhu' is identified with present-day Jammu. Arjuna while worshipping Vaishno Devi, calls her highest yogi who is free from decrepitude and decay, who is the Mother of the Vedas and the Science of Vedanta and who is giver of Victory and personification of victory itself". It is also generally believed that the Pandavas were the first to build the temples at Kol Kandoli and Bhawan in reverence and gratitude for the Mother Goddess. On a mountain, just adjacent to the Trikuta Mountain and overlooking the Holy Cave are five stone structures, which are believed to be the rock symbols of the five Pandavas.
Encounter with Rama
As per the temple’s legend, Goddess Vaishnavi once met Lord Rama in the forests of Trikuta Hills during his exile. She expressed her wish to marry him, but Rama, bound by his vow of having only one wife and already being wedded to Sita, declined. However, he promises that he would return to her in the form of Kalki, the 10th incarnation of Vishnu, who would be born in Kali Yuga, and marry her then. Rama asked her to continue her penance in the cave of Manik mountains, meditating and blessing devotees until the arrival of Kalki. As per Rama's order, Vaishnavi took residence in the holy cave where Mahakali, Mahalakshmi Vaishnavi, and Mahasaraswati reside, where she is now worshipped as Vaishno Devi. The Lakshmi Narayan Samhita and Dvaparayuga Santana identified Maniki as the consort or Shakti of Kalki.The discovery of the shrine by Pandit Shridhar
While various versions of the origin and legend of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi are prevalent, there is unanimity on the discovery of Shrine around 700 years back by the Pandit Shridhar, at whose place Mata Vaishno had helped organize a Bhandaara. When she left amidst the Bhandaara to escape Bhairon Nath, Pandit Shridhar is said to have felt as if he had lost everything in his life. He felt immense grief and gave up the intake of food or even water and closed himself in a room of his house, fervently praying for Vaishnavi to reappear.It is then that Mata Vaishnavi appeared in his vision and told him to search for her at the Holy Cave situated amidst the folds of the Trikuta Mountain. She showed him the way to the Holy Cave and insisted him to break his fast. Pandit Shridhar then went on to discover the Holy Cave in the mountains. Every time he seemed to lose the way, the vision of his dreams reappeared before his eyes and finally he reached his destination. Upon entering the Cave he found a rock form with three heads atop it. At that moment Mata Vaishno Devi appeared before him in all her glory and introduced him to the three heads of the rock form along with various other identification marks in the Holy Cave. She blessed him with a boon of four sons and a right to worship her manifestation and asked him to spread the glory of the Holy Shrine all over. Pandit Shridhar then spent his remaining life in the service of Mata at the Holy Cave.
;The story of Bhairon Nath
It is said that Bhairon Nath, a famous Hindu Tantric, saw the young Vaishno Devi at an agricultural fair and fell madly in love with her. Vaishno Devi fled into Trikuta hills to escape his amorous advances, later she turned into Chandika and cut off his head with her Trishul in a cave. The place where his severed head fell is now called the Bhairon Ghati, which has a temple dedicated to him.
The first major stop is Ardh Kunwari, a cave where the Devi is said to have meditated for nine months. This cave is also known as Garbh Joon, or the "Womb Cave," as the shape of the cave is narrow and devotees must crawl through it, symbolizing a spiritual rebirth.
The legend states that when Bhairav Nath located her at Ardh Kunwari, the Goddess used her Trishul to strike the back wall of the cave, creating a new opening. She then escaped through this passage and continued her journey to the main Holy Cave on Trikuta Mountain. The legend concludes with Bhairav Nath's repentance. As his head lay on the peak, he realized the Devi's true divinity and begged for forgiveness. The Goddess granted him salvation and a boon: that no pilgrimage to her shrine would be considered complete unless the devotee also paid respects at the Bhairav Nath Temple, which now stands at the location where his head is said to have fallen. This is why pilgrims traditionally visit the Bhairav Nath temple after having darshan at the main Holy Cave.
The Holy Cave of Vaishno Devi
The Holy Cave, located at the summit of Trikuta Mountain and known as the Bhawan, serves as the pilgrimage's ultimate sanctum. Measuring approximately 98 feet in length, it is a natural limestone cavern housing intricate rock formations revered by devotees as swayambhu embodiments of divine figures and symbols. These speleothems interweave geology with mythology, transforming the cave into a living narrative of the Goddess's legend.The Entrance: Bhairavnath’s Body and the Legend of Moksha
The cave's mouth is indelibly linked to the myth of Bhairavnath, the tantric sage yogi whose pursuit of the Goddess culminates in his demise. As per the lore, Vaishnavi beheaded Bhairavnath with her sword at the cave's threshold; the immense force propelled his severed head to Bhairav Ghati, a hilltop shrine 1.5 to 3 kilometers distant, while his torso remained petrified at the entrance as a massive 14-foot rock slab.In his final breaths, Bhairavnath attained remorse and enlightenment, prompting the Goddess to bestow moksha upon him. She decreed that no yatra would attain fruition without homage at his Bhairav Ghati temple, embedding a lesson in humility and redemption. Pilgrims ritually step over this "torso" rock to enter, a symbolic transcendence of ego and sin as they approach the divine presence.