Shanka chakra gadha saranga graheetha paramayude |
Praseeda vaishnavi roope narayanee namosthude ||
Praseeda vaishnavi roope narayanee namosthude ||
Vaishnov devi sthal came up in the place where Dakshayani's severed neck fell.
(refer to 'Yoga-agni' in 'Abodes of devi' for background story)
The 3 manifestations of Parvathi Devi - Durga, Lakshmi
and Saraswathi together created a divine child to
uphold righteousness in this world and to fulfill the desires of the devout.
She was born in the house of Ratnakar and was named Vaishnovi. She grew up to be very pious and devoted to God. She went deep into the forest in search of the almighty. While passing through a ravine she felt intensely thirsty and not finding any source of water she shot an arrow into the earth. A stream gushed out and it was named Bana-ganga. The Goddess then meditated in a cave in a place called Adhkaveri.
Goraknath, a tantric was jealous of Vaishnovi and wanted to destroy her. He sent Bairon-nath on this mission. After much pursuit he finally caught up with her. The devi however blasted an opening with her trident at other end of the cave in which she was meditating and went through that opening to another cave in Darbar.
Here she took the ferocious form of Maha-Kali. She killed Bhairon-nath and flung his head up the mountain. Compassionate as all gods and goddesses are the Devi gave her benevelont forgiveness to Bhairon-nath at his dying moment and granted a boon that a temple would be constructed for him at the spot where his head landed.
Once a brahmin pandit named Sridhar was grazing his cattle and he saw a beautiful child. He went to her and came to know her name was Vaishnovi. He took her to his home and brought her up as his own daughter.
One day Vaishnavi asked her foster-father to invite the village folks to his house for a feast. Sridhar protested to the child that he did not have the means to buy the provisions and other things required for this purpose. Vaishnavi however insisted on him to call all the villagers for the meal.
When the time came for the feast and the guests were arriving the Pandit saw that there were no provisions nor any sign of cooking. However Vaishnavi asked Sridhar to call the guests inside the hut. To his amazement all the guests were well fed and they came out belly-full.
Sridhar was sure this was a miracle performed by Vaishnovi and went in to see her but she was not to be found. He went in her search and finally arrived at a cave on a cliff crying inconsolably in not finding Vaishnovi.
Suddenly a light shone on him. He saw Vaishnovi transformed into a transcendental beauty with eight arms astride a lion. She was the supreme " Sakthi" manifested in the cave in her three forms of Kali, Lakshmi and Saraswathi.
Thus Vaishnovi came to be worshipped all these centuries since those hoary days.The credit for discovering the shrine goes to Pandit Sridhar.
Another legend about Vaishnov Devi:
In Thredha yuga the demons like Ravana, Kumbakarna, and Kara-dushana became very powerful. For protecting themselves the devas and humans requested Devi to incarnate on the earth.
Devi Aadhi-Sakthi was born as a daughter to Ratnasagar - a Vaishnavite and she was named Trikooda.
She learnt all about vaishnavaism and became a devotee of Vishnu. So intense was her devotion that she very much wanted to marry him. She went into the forest to do penance, with her father's permission, to achieve her ambition.
Sri Maha-Vishnu was incarnated as Sri Rama at that time. Sri Rama had resolved that in that avathar he would marry only one wife and the very purpose of the avathar was to spread this message.
He appeared before Thrikooda in the guise of a sage. She could not recognize the sage as Sri Rama. But Sri Rama revealed himself to her and said "In this present avathar I cannot marry you as I am observing 'yeka-pathni-virtham' (Marrying only one wife). But continue your penance on this hill. I will again incarnate as Kalki in the Kali-yug and will marry you. Till then protect your devotees and Protect this earth".
From that time she made that hill her home and she came to be called as Vaishnovi devi. All the monkeys that helped Sri Rama in his fight against Ravana and his army became her body-guards in the form of small hills all round.
As blessed by Sri Rama, Vaishnovi sthal became very famous. The Devi is munificent in her blessings to her devotees.
In her shrine in the cave there are idols of the three Sakthis - Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and mahasaraswathi.
The shrine is open all through the year though the route is blocked by snow-fall in winter making access a little difficult.
She was born in the house of Ratnakar and was named Vaishnovi. She grew up to be very pious and devoted to God. She went deep into the forest in search of the almighty. While passing through a ravine she felt intensely thirsty and not finding any source of water she shot an arrow into the earth. A stream gushed out and it was named Bana-ganga. The Goddess then meditated in a cave in a place called Adhkaveri.
Goraknath, a tantric was jealous of Vaishnovi and wanted to destroy her. He sent Bairon-nath on this mission. After much pursuit he finally caught up with her. The devi however blasted an opening with her trident at other end of the cave in which she was meditating and went through that opening to another cave in Darbar.
Here she took the ferocious form of Maha-Kali. She killed Bhairon-nath and flung his head up the mountain. Compassionate as all gods and goddesses are the Devi gave her benevelont forgiveness to Bhairon-nath at his dying moment and granted a boon that a temple would be constructed for him at the spot where his head landed.
Once a brahmin pandit named Sridhar was grazing his cattle and he saw a beautiful child. He went to her and came to know her name was Vaishnovi. He took her to his home and brought her up as his own daughter.
One day Vaishnavi asked her foster-father to invite the village folks to his house for a feast. Sridhar protested to the child that he did not have the means to buy the provisions and other things required for this purpose. Vaishnavi however insisted on him to call all the villagers for the meal.
When the time came for the feast and the guests were arriving the Pandit saw that there were no provisions nor any sign of cooking. However Vaishnavi asked Sridhar to call the guests inside the hut. To his amazement all the guests were well fed and they came out belly-full.
Sridhar was sure this was a miracle performed by Vaishnovi and went in to see her but she was not to be found. He went in her search and finally arrived at a cave on a cliff crying inconsolably in not finding Vaishnovi.
Suddenly a light shone on him. He saw Vaishnovi transformed into a transcendental beauty with eight arms astride a lion. She was the supreme " Sakthi" manifested in the cave in her three forms of Kali, Lakshmi and Saraswathi.
Thus Vaishnovi came to be worshipped all these centuries since those hoary days.The credit for discovering the shrine goes to Pandit Sridhar.
Another legend about Vaishnov Devi:
In Thredha yuga the demons like Ravana, Kumbakarna, and Kara-dushana became very powerful. For protecting themselves the devas and humans requested Devi to incarnate on the earth.
Devi Aadhi-Sakthi was born as a daughter to Ratnasagar - a Vaishnavite and she was named Trikooda.
She learnt all about vaishnavaism and became a devotee of Vishnu. So intense was her devotion that she very much wanted to marry him. She went into the forest to do penance, with her father's permission, to achieve her ambition.
Sri Maha-Vishnu was incarnated as Sri Rama at that time. Sri Rama had resolved that in that avathar he would marry only one wife and the very purpose of the avathar was to spread this message.
He appeared before Thrikooda in the guise of a sage. She could not recognize the sage as Sri Rama. But Sri Rama revealed himself to her and said "In this present avathar I cannot marry you as I am observing 'yeka-pathni-virtham' (Marrying only one wife). But continue your penance on this hill. I will again incarnate as Kalki in the Kali-yug and will marry you. Till then protect your devotees and Protect this earth".
From that time she made that hill her home and she came to be called as Vaishnovi devi. All the monkeys that helped Sri Rama in his fight against Ravana and his army became her body-guards in the form of small hills all round.
As blessed by Sri Rama, Vaishnovi sthal became very famous. The Devi is munificent in her blessings to her devotees.
In her shrine in the cave there are idols of the three Sakthis - Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and mahasaraswathi.
The shrine is open all through the year though the route is blocked by snow-fall in winter making access a little difficult.
Om Sakthi
Location:
The holy cave shrine of
Vaishnov devi is in the
Trikuta ranges in the
Trikuta ranges in the
lower
Himalayas.It is at
a height of 5200 ft and about
60 kms north of Jammu
60 kms north of Jammu
in the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
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