Vaishno Devi Temple story

Vaishno Devi temple story is considered to be the abode of Mata Jagadamba. This temple is located at a distance of about 12 kilometers from the holy city of Katra situated in the Trikuta Mountains of Jammu and Kashmir, India. This temple is famous for its grandeur and beauty at an altitude of 5200 feet. This holy place attracts millions of pilgrims every year, making it one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in the world.

Vaishno devi temple story According to mythology :—

A village named Hansali is situated at some distance from Katra. Sridhar, a great devotee of Mother Vaishnavi, lived here. He was childless and poor. But he always thought that one day he would organize a grand bhandara of Mata. One day he called unmarried girls for Navratri worship. Mother Vaishno came and sat among them in the guise of a girl.

Vaishno devi temple story

After the puja, all the girls left but Mother Vaishno Devi remained there and said to Shridhar – ‘Invite everyone to your house for Bhandara.’ Shridhar accepted the advice of that divine girl and spread the message of Bhandara to the nearby villages. Gave. While returning from there, Guru Gorakhnath and his disciple Baba Bhairavnath ji along with other disciples were also invited for food. After receiving the invitation for food, all the villagers were surprised that how would he feed so many people?

He sat outside his hut for puja. By noon, guests had started arriving. Seeing Shridhar performing the puja, people sat wherever they saw a place. Everyone sat easily in Shridhar’s small hut. Shridhar opened his eyes and wondered how he would feed them all, then he saw a little girl coming out of the hut whose name was Vaishnavi.

She had come by the grace of God, she was serving delicious food to everyone. The Bhandara was very well organised.

When the girl went to Bhairavnath while serving food, Bhairavnath asked for meat and liquor instead of Kheer Puri. The girl refused. But Bhairavnath remained adamant. When Bhairavnath tried to capture the girl, the mother came to know about his deceit.

Mother changed form and flew towards Trikuta mountain. During this time, hiding from Bhairavnath, the mother entered a cave and performed penance for nine months.  This cave is still famous by the name of Ardhkumari. This cave has as much importance as the building. After nine months the girl came out of the cave and took the form of a goddess.

Mother warned Bhairavnath and asked him to go back. But when he did not agree, then Mother Vaishnavi took the form of Mahakali and killed Bhairavnath. Bhairavnath’s head was cut and fell in the Bhairav ​​Valley of Trikut mountain, 8 km away from the building. That place is known as Bhaironath Temple. The place where Mother Vaishno Devi killed Bhairavnath is famous by the name of ‘Holy Cave’ or ‘Bhawan’.

After the bhandara, Sridhar was curious to know about the little girl Vaishnavi, but Vaishnavi had gone missing and was not seen by anyone after that. After a long time, Shridhar had a dream of that little girl Vaishnavi, in which it became clear that she was Mother Vaishnodevi.

The girl who came in the form of Mata Rani told him about the cave and also blessed him to have a child. Shridhar became very happy and saying “Jai Mata Di” he set out in search of Mother’s cave and after a few days he found that cave i.e. building. Since then, a crowd of devotees started gathering there to have the darshan of the Mother Goddess.

Vaishno Devi Aarti

Timing
April to September
Mangal aarti — 06:00 AM
Shrinagar aarti( morning) — 07:00 AM
Bhog aarti — 01:00 PM
Shrinagar aarti( evening)—07:00PM
Shayan aarti — 08:00 PM

October to March
Mangal aarti — 06:00 AM
Shrinagar aarti( morning) — 07:00 AM
Bhog aarti — 01:00 PM
Shrinagar aarti( evening)—07:00PM
Shayan aarti — 08:00 PM