Who Is Vaishno Devi?

Mata Vaishno Devi is also widely known as Mata Rani, Trikuta, Ambe or Vaishnavi. She is considered to be a manifestation of the Hindu Mother Goddess Shakti. In addition to this, some also believe that Mata Vaishno Devi possesses the powers of the Hindu God Vishnu, and hence, she is called Vaishno Devi.
According to legends, during the time of great disorder and chaos, when asuras were roaming the earth and wreaking havoc upon innocent people and their lives, Shakti appeared to protect the weak and the defenceless. She vanquished the asuras and made them fear her. But the earth was overrun by them, and Shakti could not be everywhere. To cover every blade of grass and every bit of the earth, she created three manifestations, each with terrifying and destructive power. These manifestations were Maha Kali, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Saraswati. The three manifestations hounded the asuras and protected people all over the world.

The Three Manifestations of Shakti

However, there was still something remaining. Shakti and her three manifestations could see that upholding righteousness and spreading devotion could not be accomplished simply by fighting and defeating asuras. The people and devotees needed someone to look up to and take inspiration from.
The three devis, then, decided to concentrate their energies and powers together. From their collective strength and power (tejas), a young girl emerged and asked the three manifestations of Shakti about her purpose and goal. The devis told the girl that she was to be the shining light to lead humanity into an age of peace and devotion, and that she was to uphold the righteousness that had been damaged by the continuous desecration of the asuras. Thus, Vaishno Devi took shape and was born among humans.
From here on, there are a few legends that tell different stories towards the origin of the Vaishno Devi shrine and the Devi herself.
The most prominent legend maintains that in the Treta Yuga, a beautiful girl child was born to Ratankar, a simple farmer living in southern India, and his wife. The couple named the child Vaishnavi, as they believed that she was a part of Vishnu. Right from her early years, Vaishnavi displayed a hunger for knowledge, which no amount of reading, writing or explaining could satisfy. Subsequently, she started looking inwards for knowledge and soon learnt meditation. She realized that it was the only way through which she could bring herself close to her objective of attaining more knowledge and wisdom. Vaishnavi thus relinquished all kinds of luxuries and went deep into the forest near Rameswaram to meditate. There, she cultivated knowledge and focussed her meditation upon Lord Rama.
Lord Rama, during his 14 years of exile in the forest under the orders of his father King Dusratha, happened to visit Vaishnavi, who immediately recognized him. She sensed that Rama was no ordinary being but an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Thus, she pleaded with him to let her merge into him so that she could become one with the preserver. However, Lord Rama, knowing that it was not the appropriate time to do so, said that he would visit her again after the end of his exile, and if she succeeded in recognizing him then, he would grant her wish and allow her to merge into him.
True to his word, Lord Rama visited Vaishnavi again after being victorious in the battle against Ravana, having finished his exile and retaken the throne at Ayodhya. But this time, he disguised himself as an old man. Unfortunately, Vaishnavi was unable to recognize him and was distraught when he revealed himself. Lord Rama consoled her by saying that the appropriate time for her being one with the preserver had not come yet, and that a time would come eventually during the ‘Kalyug’ when Vishnu would be in his tenth incarnation of ‘Kalki’. This was when Vaishnavi would merge into Vishnu. Lord Rama tasked Vaishnavi with meditation, and to set up an ashram at the base of Trikuta Hill, so that she could elevate her spirituality, bless mankind, and rid the poor and destitute of their sufferings and give them some respite and joy. After she had completed these tasks, she could merge with Vishnu. Thus, Vaishnavi set off for the north, and after a lot of hardships and challenges, reached the foot of the Trikuta Hill. There, she set up her ashram as instructed by Lord Rama and began to meditate with utmost devotion.
As predicted by Lord Rama, Vaishnavi’s glory spread and people began to flock to her ashram to seek her blessings. As her fame spread, Mahayogi Guru Goraksh Nath, who had a vision of the rendezvous between Lord Rama and Vaishnavi, became curious to find out whether she had attained a high level of spirituality. Therefore, Guru Goraksh Nath sent his most trusted disciple Bhairon Nath to find out the truth. Upon locating the ashram, Bhairon Nath started spying on Vaishnavi and realized that though she was a sadhvi, she always carried weapons with her and was always surrounded by langurs and a ferocious lion. Bhairon Nath was enamored by Vaishnavi’s extraordinary beauty, and losing all sense of decorum, he began to harass Vaishnavi to marry him.
Pandit Sridhar, one of Vaishnavi’s most ardent devotees who lived nearby, organized a bhandara in which the entire village as well as Guru Goraksh Nath and his followers were invited. During the course of the bhandara, Bhairon Nath, in the throes of lust, attempted to grab Vaishnavi. She evaded him but could not continue to keep doing so. Therefore, she decided to flee into the mountains to continue her tapasaya undisturbed and away from the lascivious eyes of Bhairon Nath. He, however, followed her to her destination.
After halting at Banganga, Charan Paduka and Adhkuwari, Vaishnavi finally reached the holy cave. When Bhairon Nath continued to follow her despite her attempts to avoid any kind of confrontation, she had to kill him, as he would have kept interrupting her meditation, which was the duty given to her by Vishnu. Bhairon Nath met his end just outside the cave, where the goddess decapitated him. The severed head of the former disciple of Goraksh Nath fell with force at a distant hilltop. Only upon death did Bhairon Nath realize the futility of his desire and prayed to the deity he had wronged to forgive him. The almighty Mata had mercy on him and blessed him with a sanctum in the shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, which is revered by everyone. Another legend states that after accepting Lord Rama’s advice and proceeding to Trikuta, Vaishanavi found out that the hill was under the sway of a demon named Bhairon. Upon seeing her, Bhairon was bewitched by her beauty and wanted to possess her. Vaishnavi tried to escape and took a dangerous route to the mountain in order to dodge Bhairon. On her way there, several people saw the glow of divinity upon her and started following her in devotion.
Upon reaching Banganga, the devotees felt parched and thirsty. Not a drop of water could be found. Acknowledging their faith and the problem, Vaishno Devi invoked her divine powers and shot an arrow into a nearby rock. A pure stream of water flowed out, and it was given the name ‘Banganga’, which means Ganga that flows out due to an arrow being launched.
Vaishno Devi, concerned for her devotees and wishing to avoid Bhairon, left them at Banganga and continued her climb alone. She stopped for a short while at a place, which is now called Charan Paduka, where she looked back to see if the demon was still following her. The rock on which she stood and steeled herself bear the imprints of her feet, which can still be seen to this day, and a temple commemorating them has been erected there.
When Vaishno Devi reached Adhkuwari, she went inside a cave and meditated there for a period of nine months. Bhairon, all this while, had been following her. After a long time, he managed to locate Vaishno Devi. He reached the mouth of the cave and blocked all avenues of escape for the goddess. A mendicant nearby, recognizing Vaishno Devi as Shakti, warned Bhairon to give up his fruitless endeavour. Overtaken by lust, Bhairon did not waver. As he moved towards her, Vaishno Devi, using her divine strength, cut up the rock behind her and escaped through an opening in between them. This small niche in the rock is known as Garbh Joon.
Upon escaping the cave, Vaishno Devi took a yet steeper path, which is known as ‘Hathi-Matha’, since it resembles the forehead of an elephant. From there, she reached the main cave, but Bhairon was still in pursuit. Realizing that there was no stopping him and his lust, Vaishno Devi assumed her divine form as Shakti and emerged from her cave, dressed in bright red clothes and riding a lion. She held weapons in each of her eight hands, and hurled a trishul (trident) at Bhairon. The force of the throw severed Bhairon’s head, which fell almost 1.4 km away, in a place today known as Bhairon Ghati. His torso remained rooted to the cave, and it can be seen today as a boulder at the cave entrance.
As he lay dying, Bhairon repented and begged the goddess to forgive him and bless him so that his body would remain where it was and that people would encounter his remains while they were on a pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi. The goddess granted this wish, and it was in fulfilment of this wish that she ensured that the devotees, while doing darshan, did not walk over the body of Bhairon. It was so positioned that the pilgrims had to crawl over the curves of the cave wall before they could come face to face with the three pindis.
Yet another version of the legend maintains that at the time of Vaishnavi’s human existence, a king by the name of Bhairon Bali ruled the area between Sutlej and Jhelum. He was a tyrant who had no mercy for his subjects. Those who were oppressed by him prayed to Vaishno Devi and approached her hermitage to save them from his misrule. Vaishno Devi agreed to help and came down from her abode in Trikuta Hill to organize a gathering of the aggrieved villagers and chart out a plan. The tyrant king showed up to the gathering, intending to punish his subjects and abduct Vaishno Devi so that he could marry her. Since Vaishno Devi was the goddess incarnate, she knew she could not be caught. She proceeded towards her cave, and on the way, organized rebellions that freed Bhairon Bali’s oppressed subjects. The tyrant tried to give her a chase but was struck down by her trident much in the same way as in the other tellings of the legend.
Another set of myths places Vaishno Devi in each of the four Yugas. In the Sat Yuga, she appeared as the eldest of the seven sisters who were sent to the earth by the sages in the shape of seven goddesses. She took a mortal form to put an end to Mahishasura, who spread his evil throughout the world and put the existence of the universe in danger. After successfully destroying Mahishasura, order returned to the universe and everything was peaceful again. Here, Vaishno Devi is seen as one of the prime forces keeping chaos and demons at bay and helping peace prevail.
In the Dwapara Yuga, Vaishno Devi was known as the protector of truth and justice. The Mahabharata occurred in this Yuga, and Vaishno Devi finds a mention in the epic. Before heading towards the battlefield at Kurukshetra to fight against the Kauravas, Lord Krishna advised Arjuna that he should visit the hills of Jammu and seek Vaishno Devi’s blessings. Arjuna agreed to this advice and visited Trikuta, where he worshipped the goddess.