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 Every hour, every day, every
year a mass of humanity surges up steep pathways that cut
across the hillside for mile after mile. Popular belief
holds that anybody who walks the Himalayan trail to her
abode to ask for a boon rarely goes back disappointed. There
are many who journey here year after year to pay obeisance
regardless of their faith or belief, creed or class, caste
or religion, for Mata Vaishno Devi transcends all such
barriers.
As the legend goes, more than
700 years ago Vaishno Devi a devotee of Lord Vishnu, used to
pray to Lord Rama and had taken vow of celibacy. Bhairon
Nath, a tantric (demon-God) tried to behold Her. Making use
of his tantric powers, Bhairon Nath was able to see Her
going towards the Trikuta mountains 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. The
Goddess then meditated in the cave at Adhkawari. It took
Bhairon Nath nine months to locate Her, the reason why the
cave is known as Garbh Joon. Mata Vaishno Devi blasted an
opening at the other end of the cave with Her Trident when
the demon-God located Her. |
On arriving at the Holy Cave
at Darbar, she assumed the form of Maha Kali and cut off
Bhairon Nath's head which was flung up the mountain by the
force of the blow and fell at the place where the Bhairon
Temple is now located. The boulder at the mouth of the Holy
Cave according to the legend is the petrified torso of
Bhairon Nath who was granted divine forgiveness by the
benevolent Mata in his dying moments
