Holy Pilgrimage to Wonderful Vaishno Devi Temple in India

The pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi near Jammu in India is considered one of the most vital places of pilgrimage for almost all the religions. We were able to visit this holy temple of Vaishno Devi last November during our trip to India. Vaishno Devi is situated 30 miles to the North of Jammu at the height of 5,200 feet from sea level on Trikut Mountain. It is strongly believed that if anybody completes this pilgrimage on foot, he will be successful in all the fields of his life: marriage, study, job, health, children and business.

We started by Jammu Tavi Express train and got down at Jammu station after around 26 hours of train journey from Vadodara in Gujarat state. We reached Jammu at around 7 am in the morning. We hired a taxi and reached the town of Katara, which is 30 miles away from city of Jammu and is the base of the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage. There are lots of hotels and restaurants available at Katara. We checked in the Hotel Amba, situated in the market of Katara. You have to travel further distance of 8 miles either by walking or on horseback or the doli service. However, most of the pilgrims prefer to walk, as it would satisfy them as they have completed the entire pilgrimage by feet. We also opted to walk up to the top and started our climb at around 1 pm in the afternoon. You must ensure to collect your pilgrimage registration slip from the State Government counter located at the Katara bus stand without fail for all the persons undertaking the pilgrimage. Do not collect this slip from any other source, as there are many unauthorized persons moving around and may give you false registration slip by taking some extra money. If you would not have authorized slip, you will be detained at the gate of the temple on the hill and will not be allowed to enter it. The tennis walking shoes, walking stick, cloth containers, torch, cameras, and the raincoats are available on hire at Katara on showing your registration slip. As soon as you start climbing up, you will be able to clearly view the Trikut Mountain with snake like roads all along. The view of snow cladded Himalayan Mountains can be seen in the far background.

The total distance of 8 mile is to be covered to reach to the cave of Mataji. It may take from 5 hours to 12 hours to reach up to the top, depending upon the rush of the tourists and the weather. We took around 8 hours and reached the entrance of the holy cave at around 9 pm in the night. One has to enter the cave and cover the distance of around 30 feet by crawling on your stomach. Make sure to be very careful while covering this distance, as there are couples of turns also coming in the way. You will find yourself in knee-deep holy water of River Ganga. Around 30 people only are allowed to enter the holy cave at a time in view of very narrow walkway. You shall reach the end of the cave and will be mesmerized to see the most beautiful black color statue of Vaishno Devi, dressed in most fascinating red color sari. All the three forms of Vaishno Devi, namely Mahakali, Mahalaxmi, and the Maha Sarswati are seen here in one single statue of Mataji. The holy water keeps on flowing slowly from the feet of Mataji and each pilgrim drinks this water as prasad of the Mataji. You have to move out of the cave and start your return journey once you have completed the darshnas of Mataji.

The 8 mile long road is built new recently with a very strong steel railing for safety purpose. There are powerful Sodium lamps all along the walk way so that it is equally convenient to take up your journey even during night. There are around 650 toilets constructed in the way for the pilgrims. There are 13 bhandaras, which serve food, milk, snacks, tea, and many other sweets to all the pilgrims, free of cost. One can relax during the return journey and enjoy the most beautiful and scenic views of the Himalayan Mountains. We reached Katara at around 2 am in the morning and went to sleep immediately after reaching our hotel.

This pilgrimage of Vaishno Devi have become rather simple and easy as compared to earlier times due to asphalt roads, lighting arrangement, and the bhandaras serving all types of food items, free of charge. I am very confident that this article would tempt many of my friends and readers to take up this prestigious pilgrimage of Vaishno Devi during their next visit to India.