Devalok
Local story · 2 tellings · The Himalaya

Vaishno Devi and Bhairon Nath

A girl born of the three great goddesses waits on Trikuta mountain for Rama's promise; in the Kali age she feeds Pandit Shridhar's village, flees the Tantric Bhairon Nath up the mountain, hides nine months in a cave, beheads him at the mouth of her own, and grants him that her pilgrims must also visit him.

Who is in it

Places: Trikuta mountain

The story, beat by beat

  1. Vaishnavi is born in the south from the light of Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati and does tapas to win Vishnu.
  2. Rama, bound to Sita, promises to marry her as Kalki and sends her north to Trikuta.
  3. In the Kali age she appears as a girl to Pandit Shridhar and feeds his whole village.
  4. Bhairon Nath demands meat and wine, tries to seize her, and chases her up the mountain.
  5. She makes Banganga with an arrow, leaves footprints at Charan Paduka, hides nine months at Adhkuwari.
  6. At the holy cave she beheads him as Mahakali; his head lands on the next peak; he repents and receives his boon; she becomes the three pindis.

pursuit pilgrimage forgiveness promise

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Temple tradition

The legend of the pilgrimage

The Himalaya · Katra and Trikuta, Jammu Shakta

Pandit Shridhar of Hansali is poor and devoted. A girl tells him to invite the villagers and the holy men to a feast, and when they come, the food does not run out. Among the guests is Bhairon Nath, a Tantric disciple, who asks for meat and wine. Not at a brahmin's feast, she says. He reaches for her and she runs into the Trikuta hills. She shoots an arrow into the rock for water, the Banganga, and washes her hair; she looks back and leaves her footprints, Charan Paduka; she hides for nine months in a narrow cave shaped like a womb at Adhkuwari, and when Bhairon finds it she breaks out of the far end with her trident. At the mouth of the high cave she turns and is Mahakali, and cuts off his head, which flies to the next peak. Dying, he knows her and asks forgiveness. She gives it, and more: no pilgrim's journey to her will be complete until they climb to him. Then she becomes rock, three pindis, and Shridhar finds the cave in a dream.

Vaishno Devi (Wikipedia); Yatra: A Guide to the Holy Pilgrimage of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi (Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board)

Encyclopedia

The promise of Rama

The Himalaya · Trikuta, Jammu Shakta

The beginning is older in story-time. In the Treta age Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati pool their light into one girl, Vaishnavi, born in the south in the house of Ratnakar. She wants Vishnu and goes into the forest to do tapas. When Rama passes, she knows him and asks him to marry her. He has vowed to have one wife, Sita, in this life; in the Kali age, he says, he will come back as Kalki and marry her. Until then she is to go north to Trikuta, sit in a cave and help those who come. She is still waiting.

Vaishno Devi (Wikipedia)

Sources: Vaishno Devi (Wikipedia); Yatra: A Guide to the Holy Pilgrimage of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi (Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board)

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