Vaishno Devi

Tales from Pir Panjal

Far from the frenzy of the Indian metros lies the Trikuth Mountains in the southern side of Pir Panjal Range of Jammu. This is the destination that conceals the hallowed cave shrine of Vaishno Devi, fondly known as Jai Mata Ji among the devouts. The shrine soars high on the popularity chart for pilgrims across the Indian sub-continent.

Jammu on the banks of river Tawi, forms the gateway to the pilgrim centre of Vaishno Devi popular as Bhawan. Back in the end of 20^th century, I had a penchant to visit the shrine post-Navratri and the idea of receiving first-hand info of what attracted pilgrims to the shrine in droves made us take the Jammu-Tawi Express from Kolkata with a plethora of enthusiasm. Insurgency was its peak in the border towns of Jammu so while passing through Kathua and Samba sectors, we could hear gun shots at a distance. On reaching Jammu, we took a bus going to Katra and along with other fellow pilgrims; we chanted hymns all along the way. After travelling a distance of 3 km from Jammu, we reached Nagrota replete with fruit orchards and rocky contours with undulating chain of hills.  There were Langurs all around in groups and river Tawi winding its ways through the rocky mountains appeared every now and then.

 We passed through the Chinar and walnut trees and soon there was sundown when we reached Katra- a lively hamlet in the valley in the foothills of Trikuth Mountains that serves as the base camp to Vaishno Devi. The entire 13-km stretch from Katra to Vaishno Devi glittered with sodium vapour lights at night. Tired, we made our way to a hotel and geared up for the early morning journey to Vaishno Devi.

  

                                                         A view of Katra

  The next morning, we began our trek with empty stomach and came across gilt-edged hoardings lining the streets of Katra. The entire town reverberates with the divine songs of Mata ji with sweet fragrance wafting the atmosphere. We reached the Banganga checkpoint to receive our yatra registration slip and the place echoed with cheers from scores of devotees assembling here. This was the starting point of our trek to the Trikuth Mountains that has a gurgling waterfall cascading into the river Banganga.

 River Banganga

With our Yatra registration slip verified, we moved along the trek route with other devotees singing “Jai Mata Di”. We took the ascending trail and refrained from climbing the infinite steps and paused often to catch our breath at regular intervals. Gradually we neared at a height of 4,800 feet and had covered 6 km of the trek. Since I had embarked on empty stomach and had fruit juice on the way, I was engulfed by a sudden feeling of nausea and couldn’t move further. After nauseating for a while, it was quite difficult for me to take steps and I was in tears. A devout lady who was trekking her way approached me and asked me to chant the hymns louder and following her advice, to my utter astonishment, I could finally move. We hired ponies and around 12 noon, we crossed half the trek route and arrived at Adhkunwari, reputed for the shrine of Goddess Durga. One can catch bewitching views of the Himalayan mountains and the rocky gorges with dollops of greenery and the hillside houses in Katra miles below.  

  Adhkunwari shrine

From Adhkunwari, it is a steep trek flanked by sprays of fern sprouting from the soil on rocks covered with thick mosses. We began huffing and puffing and with the sun going behind the mountains, the atmosphere was chilled. We were at Sanjichhat that is incidentally the highest point on the trek route at a height of 6,200 feet. We were glad that we could cover a distance of 9 km, which was an achievement for novices like us. There were mountain streams gushing down with full force through rocks and thick white clouds began appearing covering the lofty ice-clad peaks. This area of the trek was frequented by landslides, warned our Dogri porters.

 A view of Katra from Adhkunwari

It was bitingly cold and by the time we reached Bhawan, our teeth were chattering. We were at the divine site that has the paleolithic cave shrine of Vaishno Devi withstanding the ravages of time. We entered the shrine and heard the roaring of thunder echoing across the mountains followed by hailstorm. It was a sight to behold. The holy waters of river Charanganga washed the feet of the Goddess inside the cave and the outside ambience was drenched and wrapped in verdant greenery with a sudden shower.

Once our darshan was over, we had Rajma Chawal at the Darbar refreshment centre. Our return trip along the rain-washed trail was quite smooth and hearing the haunting folk tunes of Dogri porters was indeed refreshing. Having said this, a visit to Vaishno Devi shrine was a life-enriching experience for me.