Intro
Vaishno Devi is one of the most famous hindu shrines in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Majorly it attracts religious hindus and sikhs to pay a visit(darshan) to Goddess Durga.
How to reach
Delhi to Jammu (620 kms) - via train or buses. http://www.ixigo.com/trains/JammuTawi-JAT
Jammu to Katra (46 kms) - via bus or private taxi
Katra to Vaishno Devi(14 kms) - on foot or horse and there are electric scooters available for the last 4km of journey. Helicopter services are also available from katra to vaishno devi.
Places to visit
Bhawan - Vaishno Devi temple
Adhkawari - Holy Cave where goddess Durga meditated for 9 months
My Diary
Reached Jammu from Delhi in morning around 11 am after our train got delayed by 3 hrs. The scorching heat of June had already started burning us and we were desperate to take the climb up for Vaishno Devi to get some cool air.
Took the bus to Katra which was around 50 km and got a slight interruption in the middle around 15 kms from Katra where we had to empty the bus with our bags to pass through the Army Check post. Understandable and justified keeping in mind the sensitive situation in J&K State. So it took us in all two hours to reach Katra where we just took a room which was offered to us free in exchange for buying prasad (offering to mata).
I went to buy the yatra ticket at yatra registration counter near Katra Bus Stand which costs Rs 100/head if I remember correctly.
Anyways then around 4 in evening we started our climb after my friends were able to recover from tiring travel all the way from Chennai,Bangalore to Delhi and the mata head band gave us the rest of energy to ascend.
We had just started climbing and covered around 4 kms heavy rains hampered our ascent. So we had to opt for plastic raincoats to move ahead. As we were about to get adjusted to rain walk "mata" added another twist to our darshan, there was a cylinder blast followed by fire just 100ms ahead of us in one of the sweet shops. Thereafter we halted midway to have a coffee break in an exquisite location from where our view spanned across katra city, chenab river and far off we could even make out the Pakistan border.
It took us another around 2.5 hours to reach adhkawari 6.5 kms from katra. We skipped
this place as our main purpose was to visit
Bhawan (Vaishno Devi temple), but to give
a brief idea adhkawari is the holy cave where
mata meditated for 9 months and the cave is quite narrow and must be visited if there is time in hand.
We kept on the ascent taking tea breaks from time to time. The real thrill started after adhkawari, sun went down and winds started blowing at very high
speeds accompanied by rain showers. We were adamant to reach Bhawan as soon as possible so we had to literally hold each other's hand and walk to save each other from flying away.
Finally after so much struggle with rain,wind and almost fire :) we could make it to Bhawan in almost 5 hrs as we touched Bhawan around 9 pm.
I asked my friends to keep the luggage and shoes in
some locker so we could immediately proceed for
Darshan (temple visit). They almost took 1.5 hrs to finally get a locker but thankfully our lines proceeded
fast and we had to just wait half an hour in the line to
reach the vaishno devi shrine.
The darshan was very fast we were being hurried in a line and there was a security personal and priest near the shrine and the security personal just pushed us away in 5 secs so it was just a glimpse we could have. Anyways we had to keep ourselves content with that as we were damn hungry after that 14 km climb and waiting. So we headed towards the first eating joint we got and filled ourselves with daal roti. The next herculean task was to find a place to sleep, mark my words a place to sleep not hotel not room not front-yard,backyard or lobby or a dharmshala just a place thats what we needed. I somehow managed to get 6 blankets on rent Rs 100/ blanket deposit. This was the place where we three of us slept. Ya thanks to me as I was able to get this 2nd floor balcony in a dharamshala after climbing over a dozen of sleeping heads in the rooms inside :) . So this was how we managed to spend and sleep through the night.
Morning view of Bhawan and Vaishno Devi Shrine while we returned back to Katra.
All the buildings here belong to Vaishno Devi Shrine Board and most of them are dharamshalas for travelers to stay during the darshan.
Shows the route from Katra to Vaishno Devi (Bhawan) with long sheds in the middle which
not only protects travelers (yatris) from rain and wind but also have seats where they can relax.
Vaishno Devi is one of the most famous hindu shrines in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Majorly it attracts religious hindus and sikhs to pay a visit(darshan) to Goddess Durga.
How to reach
Delhi to Jammu (620 kms) - via train or buses. http://www.ixigo.com/trains/JammuTawi-JAT
Jammu to Katra (46 kms) - via bus or private taxi
Katra to Vaishno Devi(14 kms) - on foot or horse and there are electric scooters available for the last 4km of journey. Helicopter services are also available from katra to vaishno devi.
Places to visit
Bhawan - Vaishno Devi temple
Adhkawari - Holy Cave where goddess Durga meditated for 9 months
My Diary
Reached Jammu from Delhi in morning around 11 am after our train got delayed by 3 hrs. The scorching heat of June had already started burning us and we were desperate to take the climb up for Vaishno Devi to get some cool air.
Took the bus to Katra which was around 50 km and got a slight interruption in the middle around 15 kms from Katra where we had to empty the bus with our bags to pass through the Army Check post. Understandable and justified keeping in mind the sensitive situation in J&K State. So it took us in all two hours to reach Katra where we just took a room which was offered to us free in exchange for buying prasad (offering to mata).
I went to buy the yatra ticket at yatra registration counter near Katra Bus Stand which costs Rs 100/head if I remember correctly.
We had just started climbing and covered around 4 kms heavy rains hampered our ascent. So we had to opt for plastic raincoats to move ahead. As we were about to get adjusted to rain walk "mata" added another twist to our darshan, there was a cylinder blast followed by fire just 100ms ahead of us in one of the sweet shops. Thereafter we halted midway to have a coffee break in an exquisite location from where our view spanned across katra city, chenab river and far off we could even make out the Pakistan border.
It took us another around 2.5 hours to reach adhkawari 6.5 kms from katra. We skipped
this place as our main purpose was to visit
Bhawan (Vaishno Devi temple), but to give
a brief idea adhkawari is the holy cave where
mata meditated for 9 months and the cave is quite narrow and must be visited if there is time in hand.
We kept on the ascent taking tea breaks from time to time. The real thrill started after adhkawari, sun went down and winds started blowing at very high
speeds accompanied by rain showers. We were adamant to reach Bhawan as soon as possible so we had to literally hold each other's hand and walk to save each other from flying away.
Finally after so much struggle with rain,wind and almost fire :) we could make it to Bhawan in almost 5 hrs as we touched Bhawan around 9 pm.I asked my friends to keep the luggage and shoes in
some locker so we could immediately proceed for
Darshan (temple visit). They almost took 1.5 hrs to finally get a locker but thankfully our lines proceeded
fast and we had to just wait half an hour in the line to
reach the vaishno devi shrine.
Morning view of Bhawan and Vaishno Devi Shrine while we returned back to Katra.
All the buildings here belong to Vaishno Devi Shrine Board and most of them are dharamshalas for travelers to stay during the darshan.
Shows the route from Katra to Vaishno Devi (Bhawan) with long sheds in the middle which
not only protects travelers (yatris) from rain and wind but also have seats where they can relax.
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