Vaishno
Devi
The abode of the Goddess Vaishno Devi is in the Moutains of
Trikuta Hills, in the Jammu and Kashmir State of Northern
India. The Goddess resides in a beautiful cave in the form
of 3 'Pindis' namely, Maha Kali, Maha Laxmi and
Maha Sarawati. Vaishno Devi is a hard four-hour (13-km)
climb from Katra. In fact, the number of Yatris visiting the
Holy Shrine annually now exceeds 5 million. This is due to
the unflinching faith of the devotees who throng the Shrine
from all parts of India and abroad.
The legend of Vaishno Devi in India, tells the tale of a devotee
of Lord Vishnu who defeated a demon Bhairon Nath, by taking
on the form of Kali.
On returning from the vaishnodevi temple you can see the Bhairon
temple, where the head of Bhairon is believed to have fallen
when he was killed by Mata Vishno Devi.The religious fervour
of the devotees and the spectacular scenery, combine to make
the Vaishnodevi Temple Yatra a truly memorable spiritual journey
in India.
Amarnath Yatra
Amarnath is 145 km east of Srinagar in Kashmir. There is an
ice Silva-linga here that changes size with the seasons, and
also as the moon waxes and wanes it becomes bigger and smaller.
On the full moon day the linga is about 6 ft high. Each year
on the full moon day of July-August (Sravana) when the Siva-linga
attains its maximum height there is a festival at this cave
temple. It is said that Lord Siva first appeared on this day.
The of the most important event during July/ August, is Amarnath
Yatra to the Holy Pilgrimage. The Amarnath Yatra is organised
every year by the J &K Govt. during the month of Shravan
( July and August); the dates however , vary every year looking
at the weather conditions and according to Purnima (Raksha
Bandhan) in the month of Sharavan (Vikrama Samwat).
Shiv Khori
Khori means cave (Guffa) and Shiv Khori thus denotes Shiva's
cave. lt is about 200 metres long, one metre wide and two
to three metres high natural cave contains a self made lingam,
which according to the people is unending. The first entrance
of the cave is so wide that 300 devotees can be accommodated
at a time. It is double chamber being quite spacious to accommodate
large number of people. The inner chamber of the cave is smaller.
The Dargah (shrine) of Peer Budhan
Ali Shah or Peer Baba
Peer Baba is said to protect
the people of this city from mishaps and evil spirits. A friend
of Guru Gobind Singh, it is said that Peer Baba lived his
entire life on milk alone and lived to the age of five hundred
and still people from all faiths and religions verate him
in equal respect.
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