Everyday of the 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.
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