Ladakh Road trip - Starting on a holy note visiting Vaishno Devi shrine

To visit Ladakh was on our bucket list since long. This year we decided to make a road trip to Ladakh. We planned to enter Ladakh via Srinagar and leave through Manali. The Srinagar Leh route has gradual climb helping the body to acclimatize with high altitude better. Many people suffer from high altitude sickness in Ladakh. First we went to Noida from Mumbai and waited there for the Srinagar Leh and Leh Manali highways to open after the annual closure in winter. Since we will be travelling via Jammu, we decided to avail the opportunity to visit Vaishno Devi shrine at the beginning of our trip taking the long trek.

The Vaishno Devi Temple is one of the 108 Shakti Peethas where head of Sati is believed to have fallen when Lord Mahadev roamed around carrying her body. It is located in Katra at the Trikuta Mountains in the Union territory of Jammu. One of the most visited pilgrimage centres of India, every year millions of pilgrims visit the temple the count increasing to even a crore during festivals like Navaratri.

As per the legend, the three main manifestations of Goddess Durga viz Mata Maha Kali, Mata Maha Lakshmi and Mata Maha Saraswati pooled their collective spiritual strength to create a beautiful girl to live on earth and uphold righteousness. This girl was to take birth in the southern part of India, to a couple (Ratnakar and his better half) who were highly devoted to these 'Devis'. She was asked to evolve spiritually so that she would be able to merge into Vishnu and become one with him. This girl was eventually born and from a very young age was a seeker of knowledge. Vaishnavi, as she was called, then introspected and used penance and mediation to increase her knowledge. Even as she immersed in meditation Lord Rama during exile visited her. As soon as she recognized him, she asked him to allow her to merge into him. However Lord Rama, knowing that it was not the appropriate time, dissuaded her by saying that he would visit her again after the end of his exile, and at that time if she succeeded in recognizing him, he would fulfill her wish. True to his words, Rama visited her again after being victorious in the battle, but this time he did so in the disguise of an old man. Unfortunately, Vaishnavi was unable to recognize him this time and was distraught. Upon this, Lord Rama consoled her that it was not the right time to get merged and the appropriate time would be in Kaliyug when he would take the appearance of Kalki. Rama also directed her to meditate, and set up an Ashram at the base of Trikuta hills, to elevate her level of spirituality so as to bless mankind and rid the poor and destitute of their sufferings. Only then would 'Vishnu' merge her into himself. Vaishnavi immediately set off for the northern part and after immense hardships, reached the foot of the Trikuta Hills. After reaching there she set up her ashram there and began to meditate.

Her glory spread far and wide, and people began to flock to her Ashram to seek her blessings. As time passed, Mahayogi Guru Goraksh Nath ji who had a vision of the episode between Lord Rama and Vaishnavi, became curious to find out whether Vaishnavi has been able to attain a high level of spirituality or not. He, therefore, sent his most able disciple 'Bhairon Nath' to find out the truth. Bhairon Nath was enamored by Vaishnavi's extraordinary beauty, and began to pester Vaishnavi to marry him. Meanwhile a staunch devotee of Vaishnavi, Pandit Sridhar organized a Bhandara (Community meal) at her request in which the whole village and Mahayogi Guru Goraksh Nath ji along with all his followers including Bhairon were invited. During the course of Bhandara Bhairon Nath attempted to grab Vaishnavi but she tried her best to daunt him. On failing to do so, Vaishnavi decided to flee away into the mountains to continue her Tapasaya undisturbed. Bhairon Nath however chased her to her destination. The goddess halted at three places before reaching the holy cave in the mountains which are now known as Banganga, Charan Paduka, and Ardha Kunwari.

It is said that at Banganga Vaishno Devi shot an arrow (ban) at the ground to create a water body and hence the name Banganga. The Banganga river is also known as the Balganga river as Vaishno Devi washed her hair (bal) in the water. Many pilgrims take a bath in Banganga before starting the trek.

After Banganga is the Charan Paduka temple. Vaishno Devi stood on a rock to look at Bhairo Nath before her escape and this rock supposedly contained her footprints.

After Charan Paduka, comes across the Ardha Kunwari Temple. The Devi reached near a cave in the hill, she called up Hanuman and asked him prevent Bhairo Nath from entering the cave while she meditates. Hanuman obeyed the mother's orders. Devi meditated in this cave for 9 months, just like a baby stays in its mother's womb to escape Bhairo Nath which is now known as 'Ardha Kunwari'. The 52ft long Ardhkuwari is also known as Garbajoon Cave, as the shape of the cave resembles a mother's womb. After 9 Months Bhairo Nath had found and chased her. Then she ran towards bhawan, and with her divine powers cut down his head. The severed head of Bhairon fell with a force at a distant hilltop. Thereafter he realized his mistake and apologized to Mata. Mata had mercy on him and give him a boon that after having Darshan of Mata a devotee should have the darshan of Bhairo Nath, then only the yatra would considered to be completed. Meanwhile, Vaishnavi decided to shed off her human form and assuming the face of a rock she immersed her self into meditation forever. Thus Vaishnavi, in the form of a five and a half feet tall rock with three heads or the Pindies on the top is the ultimate destination of a devotee. These Pindies representing Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati constitute the Sanctum Sanctorum of the holy cave known as the shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Ji or Bhawan.

In Mahabharat it is mentioned that when the armies of Pandavas and Kaurvas were arrayed in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjun sought blessings of Vaishno Devi for victory upon advice of Sri Krishna. It is believed that the Pandavas were the first to build the temples at Kol Kandoli and Bhawan in reverence and gratitude. On a mountain, just adjacent to the Trikuta Mountain and overlooking the Holy Cave are five stone structures, which are believed to be the rock symbols of the five Pandavas.

The Shrine was discovered around 700 years back by the same Pandit Shridhar, at whose place Mata had left amidst the Bhandaara to escape Bhairon Nath. Pandit Shridhar felt immense grief and giving up the intake of food or even water started fervently praying for Vaishnavi to reappear. Mata Vaishnavi appeared in his vision (dream) and told him to search for her at the Holy Cave situated amidst the folds of the Trikuta Mountain which he eventually found.

We started on 15th June at 6 am for Katra, a small township near Jammu which is the base for the trek to Vaishno Devi shrine. Reached Murthal after about an hour and a half and entered Amrik Sukhdev Dhaba for the mandatory breakfast of Paratha. The Dhaba seems to be hugely popular as it was over crowded and its vast parking lot was choc-a-bloc with vehicles. We shared our table with a retired Group Captain of Indian Air Force from Shimla. He is now director aviation for a private group and very generously offered any help during our Ladakh trip where he has colleagues from defence.

Cruising along NH 44 (earlier called NH 1A), we passed through Sonipat, Khanna, Ludhiana and stopped at a place called Bhogpur after crossing Jalandhar for lunch at around 1:30 pm. JD restaurant is conveniently located by the road and is a decent place for a meal. Resuming our drive we passed through Gurdaspur, Pathankot and crossed Ravi river to enter the UT of Jammu at Lakhanpur where Statue of Dogra king Gulab Singh welcomed us. After reaching Jammu we took NH 144 to Katra. Reached Katra at around 6:30 pm and went straight to a hotel we booked earlier near the bus stand. From our room we could see the trek route. After checking in we went to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board office which was a stone's throw away. Here the mandatory RFID pass for the darshan is issued. There was a long, serpentine queue for pass. We were told that counter is opened at 5 am and closed at 10 pm. However, after obtaining the pass one has to commence the trek within 6 hours. The temple is open all 24 hours and pilgrims keep going even during night. As after the long travel we wanted to take rest for the night, we decided to come back in the morning for the pass.

Fearing there might be a long queue if we go later, we planned to first collect the card, come back to hotel to get ready and then start our trek. Accordingly, we got up early and joined the queue at 4:30 am. However we need not do that as the process of issuing card is quite fast and after the counter opened we got our card within half an hour despite the long queue. We left hotel at 6 am and went to Banganga check post from where we started our 13 km long trek. The trek route is mostly covered and and the incline is gradual. Hence I did not find it physically too taxing. Besides, there is provision for drinking water, toilets (don't know about the cleanliness as didn't use), tea / coffee kiosks, seating area at regular intervals. However, I did not find it pleasant. To start with the weather was humid making me sweat profusely. Many people take horses or palki for the trek and one has to keep giving ways to them which was very annoying. We came to know there is a new route which is dedicated to only pedestrians but much longer and with a steeper climb. After reaching Ardha Kuwari, which is the mid point of the trek, it became much comfortable as horses were not allowed after that point and I started enjoying the trek. It was indeed a wonder to see old and infirm people, parents with very young children taking the long trek. Many people have done that multiple times and some go every year! And some were doing the trek by prostrating on the ground! We saw plenty of monkeys towards the end but they were quite unobtrusive posing no threat unlike many other places.

It took us almost 4 hours to reach the main temple. The scene was chaotic with the huge crowd and without any effective crowd management system visible. The hassle is compounded by massive construction work going on. We had to wait in queue for more than 1 hour to deposit our belongings in cloakroom. Hopefully situation will improve in a year when the new facilities are supposed to be completed. Of course there are numerous restaurants and lodges catering to all budgets, office of the shrine board with help desk and not everything is haphazard. There is a ropeway to Bhairo Nath temple. But looking at the queue we abandoned the idea of visiting it. Later, for Darshan we queued up again with enthusiastic pilgrims chanting Mata's name as they waited. Earlier Darshan route was through the original cave which is now used only during lean period and special rituals as it is narrow. Two new tunnels have been constructed for entry and exit to accommodate the crowd. After the darshan of the holy cave as we came back to retrieve our belongings, on the way I noticed the counter for helicopter tickets in office building of the shrine board. We enquired about availability of tickets and easily got at the price of INR 1730 per head. We just had to quote our Aadhar number as our we left our documents in the cloak room. Perhaps availability of helicopter ticket for coming back is better as many people may prefer to take the ride while going to avoid the ascend. Tickets can be booked online through Shrine board website or their offline counter at Katra and Bhawan. However, many touts are said be cheating people offering fake tickets.

We hardly had anything since morning except few pieces of fruit, sugarcane juice, a cup of coffee and two cookies. But there was not much time for our helicopter ride and it was another 2 km for the Sanjichatt helipad. So we just grabbed one samosa each and started walking to the helipad. The heliport was nice with a comfortable seating area, a small restaurant and a beautiful view. After the security check we waited for our turn to board as per the serial number. It was a short ride of hardly 5 minutes, but pleasant with a very scenic route. For me it was first helicopter ride making it even more special. We reached Katra at around 3:30 pm and went for a late lunch to Sagar Ratna.

After resting in our hotel for a while we went out in the evening to explore the small township and went to Madhuban Saattvik restaurant for dinner. It is a chain founded in 2012 with a mission to provide nutritious food to pilgrims. Now they have an outlet in London serving vegan food. The ambiance, service and food was good. We also had sweet dish in Nathu sweets before coming back to hotel and calling it a day for onward travel to Srinagar the next morning.

Tit bits from Google map : 15.06.2023 Noida to Katra - Driving distance covered 662 km in around 11 hours with breaks for breakfast and lunch of 45 minutes each.