Shri Mata Vaishno Devi - Tips and Guide to Visit / Yatra to Maa Vaishno Devi

Friends,

When we go somewhere for outing on trip, before to go there it is good to have some planning so we may enjoy our trip fully and without any hurdle, I have a great faith in Maa Vaishno Devi, I have visited many places in India and it is my promise that I will write blog about all of them in full detail but my First blog is related to Trip “Yatra” to Maa Vaishno Devi. This blog is a brief of my Yatra and you will get in between all do’s & don’s and how to plan, where to stay, where to eat and all queuestions which are arising in mind of you if you are planning to visit there.

There are many things which most of the people doesn’t know even after visiting again and again, so my this blog is all related to give details of all minor points which one must cover under their planning so read carefully this blog and if anyone wants to make correction or share their personal experinaces then their comments are invited at the end of the post so that we may all be benifited.

Recently one of my friends met me and himself discussed about his trip to Vaishno Devi, he was very much unhappy about his trip as first of all he got costly hotel in Katra, then non availability of pre-paid mobile connection then he didn’t get number for darshan at adhkuwari and he didn’t find any place to stay at main Bhawan place, it was raining time and he has to sleep in half covered area with his wife and 5 year old son and it was too cold in night, people were sleeping at high number in a congested place,  he had to take bath in common bathroom, non availability of proper food which we north and west Indians prefer and at last but not least poni “Khachhar” had broken his back.

After listening his experience I felt very much lucky myself as contrary to him my trip was very smooth and memorable, first of all when I visited first time Maa Vaishno Devi I was not much in devotion of Maa Vaishno Devi but when I reached there, the feeling was amazing, there is something in the winds itself which flows there, I felt a great positive feeling which I still can feel, and I got the idea why so much people come at there, as per Wikipedia more than 10 million people come at there annually and at overview there is no particular season however since august no. of people raise every year basically in Navratri Time.

Now how to make plan and which points are crucial to consider for making your trip enjoyful or can be said successful.

 First thing and very much important- Visit official website of Shree Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board and get registered there. 

Many people are still not aware that Shrine board has so many facilities for them and best thing is these are available online. Following facilities are being provided by shrine board under online services;

Free Yatra Parchi/Trip Pass- Now a days getting yatra parchi is not a difficult task as Shrine board has opened various yatra parchi counter such as on Jammu railway Station, Katra Bus stand and some at where yatra starts but during august to diwali it may be difficult task and one may be wait for hours to get yatra parchi, therefore it is suggested to take yatra parchi in advance from Shrine board’s website and it is free of cost.

Attka Arti Darshan/ VIP Pass  to seat in the Darbar/ Main Bhawan and see the Arti

Many of us are very well aware that Shradha TV is showing daily Live Telecast of Maa Vaisho Devi Darshan and many people attend that but many of us till date doesn’t know how they people can attend that and if know don’t want to attend Arti Darshan,  but I will forcefully say that every person if may afford as per person charge is Rs.1000, once should grab the opportunity to attend the arti as it is most enjoyfull thing to do there, it creates superb environment, and it is heared that Devtas himself comes there at the time of arti and it is very much Pavitra place as Mata Rani went through there to the cave/ gufa where people seat for arti, arti tickets are available online as well as Thirty minutes before the aarti starts from office of Sub- Divisional magistrate at room no. 8 or 4 I am not recalling correctly nut both are at kalika bhawan so it is easy to find and I am referring room no. 8 in this blog, in online reservation you have chance to sit in front rows and if you want to sit in front rows you should arrive at SDM office earlier for example, Morning Arti Time is 6:20 AM and you are required to reach at 5’o clock any how to get your token no. and according to token no. only you will be entered in Bhawan, and who offline token will starts from around 6 o’clock and you will get approval from SDM  and will need to deposit 1000 Rs. At donation counter no. 1 and again you will need to go to room no. 8 and get your final token and this is very much breathtaking task as there very much stairs out there. So it is good to book online itself

Two things must be remember for online booking of everything, first try to book two months earlier from the journey date as there is same situation as IRCTC, it is very hard to get confirm booking at later period but one may try his luck, second do carry debit/credit card definitely as shrine board is very strict in its rules, your booking will be cancelled if you don’t carry your debit/credit card from which you made payment.

Note: Attka Arti darshan charges are come under donation and therefore shrine board doesn’t give refund on cancellation of same.

Room Booking: Rooms and Dormitory booking is also available online, it is must thing that you book your room prior otherwise there is no availability of rooms or dormitory at any point of time in a year, you will be very much fortunate if you get shelter to get sleep especially at Bhwan location, although all staying facility are not available online but forget about the remaining places as those will never be available.

As rooms are very much important as most of time rains comes in night and  if you don’t have proper facility for stay you will totally exhaust, shrine board has made facility for free blanket for which you need to pay full refundable security amount of Rs. 100 and you may sleep in various shelters such as restaurant area or one or two halls or somewhere in balcony but trust me the cold will be unbearable and two or three blanket will also not be sufficient, tariff of online room booking of Shrine board is as detailed below;

S.No.	Location	Bhawan	Room Type	Total	Tariff
1.	Jammu	Vaishnavi Dham	Double Bedded, AC	2	Rs.1100/-
2.	Jammu	Kalika Dham	Double Bedded, AC	25	Rs.1500/-
3.	Katra	Niharika	Four Bedded, AC	2	Rs.1500/-
4.	Katra	Niharika	Double Bedded, AC	4	Rs.1300/-
5.	Katra	SGC Katra	Double Bedded, AC	2	Rs.1500/-
6.	Katra	SGC Katra	Conference Hall (Max 20 person) (9 AM to 2 PM)	1	Rs.3000/-
7.	Katra	SGC Katra	Auditorium (Max 450 person) (9 AM to 2 PM)	1	Rs.20000/-
8.	Katra	SGC Katra	Auditorium (Max 450 person) (3 PM to 8 PM)	1	Rs.20000/-
9.	Katra	Niharika	Double Bedded Non-AC, Non-Carpetted	8	Rs.850/-
10.	Katra	SGC Katra	Conference Hall (Max 20 person) (3 PM to 8 PM)	1	Rs.3000/-
11.	Katra	SGC Katra	Suite	1	Rs.2500/-
12.	Katra	Niharika	Four Bedded, Non-AC, Non-Carpetted	2	Rs.1100/-
13.	Adhkuwari	Sharda Bhawan	Double Bedded	2	Rs.700/-
14.	Sanjichhat	Mangla Bhawan	Double Bedded	2	Rs.700/-
15.	Bhawan	Vaishnavi Bhawan	Double Bedded	8	Rs.900/-
16.	Bhawan	Vaishnavi Bhawan	Double Bedded Hut	5	Rs.900/-
17.	Bhawan	Gouri Bhawan	Four Bedded	6	Rs.1300/-

Tarriff of dormitory is from Rs. 100 to Rs.250.

In my trip I didn’t book room at Katra as these are costly enough, at katra bus stand you will get many agents those will show you good rooms and they are trustworthy also, but you must bargain the price, one may get good rooms in Rs. 500 along with the facility of drop and pick up to Yatra entry gate. Autos are very costly there, autos may charge up to Rs. 300-400 then it is good to book private hotel in Rs. 500 in which they will give pick up and drop facility and keeping your luggage in safe till you come back to hotel with no other charge.

Helicopter Service: Pawan Hans & Global Vectra helicopter services from Katra on the foothills and the flight will drop you at Sanjhichatt. At price of that is Rs. 1000 per person. Other services are individual Poojan or SSVP poojan, one may see according to his wish.

**Always carry postpaid connection as prepaid connection doesn’t work in roaming in Jammu.

My Trip plan:

Reaching Katra: During my trip I had booking of train upto Jammu, whereas Katra is now been connected through rail from various destinations, I reached Jammu in evening. There are facility of Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board to stay just near about railway Station of Jammu but I moved towards Katra on same day, on the railway station itself facility of vehicles such as local buses and shared and private cabs/taxis are available but somewhere I read that such cabs are not much safe and it is better to go via local buses, local buses also have very low fares such as Rs.40 to 60 per person from Jammu to Katra and it takes around 2 hours to reach Katra.

When I reached Katra, as already discussed I booked a hotel through an agent wondering on bus stop itself, and stayed overnight there, In morning I kept my one suitcase in safe of hotel and kept my bagpack with me, for yatra one need yatra parchi, as discussed but I had taken parchi online already and hotel person dropped me at the place from where yatra starts .

Darshani Darwaza: Yatra starts from Darshani Darwaza, it is saying that Mata Vaishno Devi met with the pandit Sridhar in the form of girl child at here, it also views the Trikuta Mountain from here and this is around 1 km from bus stand.

Banganga: My second stop is banganga, the name of this river comes from two terms, Ban and Ganga. Ban means Arrow and Ganga stands for the sacred river Gages. It is believed that Mata Vaishno Devi, while on her way to the Holy Cave, created this water body with an arrow from her quiver, hence the name Banganga. It is also said that she had taken a dip in it and had washed her hair here. Thus some people also prefer to call it Balganaga, the term Bal meaning hair in hindi.

water in river was flowing beautifully, it is considered as holy river and a I washed my hands and legs here as I could not take bath after seeing a lot of people taking bath, washing cloths and hairs with shampoo, cutting hairs of children “mundan” as it happens at every holly river in India.

From Banganga, yatra starts for Bhawan/Darbar of Maa Vaishno Devi, as I was going for trekking one companion is most required that is “laathi” or stick, it is very much useful during trekking or may be said must required companion,   there are ponies  & palkies are available and if some one hire them it is required to first check price of them as set by Shrine Board from its website as these person may cheat with price and if crowd is less then one may bargain also from the fixed price of Shrine board also and in my opinion if you are going to hire palkies, helicopter facility is more better comparative to palkies when it comes on the matter of charges, other than it is individuals choice. By the way my personal choice is trekking, which is most enjoyful way to reach Maa ke Darbar with Jaykare on the way, “Jai Mata Di”.

Charan Paduka: Next  Stop from Banganga is 1 km away, Charan Paduka, the place where mata rani stopped for a while and looked back when Bhirav was tracing her, and footprints of Maa is there

Adhkuwari: After charan paduka we move to adhkuwari, a gufa where mata rani stayed for 9 months and worshipped for lord Shiva, and when Bhirav found that mata is in the cave she made an opening in the cave by her tridet, it is 6 km from first stop and yatra is very tough till adhkuwari as all the way khachhar/ ponies  will irritate you but best way is to dip down in bhakti of Mata rani, this time I reached very fast to adhkuwari compartively to last year, there is huge queueue in adhkuwari as it takes long time individually to darshan in gufa, in normal season it takes 15 to 24 hrs to get your no. for darshan, accordingly shrine board has maintained all facilities of stay and food here, one may enroll their no. and go to main Bhawan and in return he can darshan adhkuwari.

One thing is best of shrine board which is very hard to see at other pilgrim places as shrine board has maintained all facility, food and stay facility are all empowered by shrine board at very low cost and shrine board has spent huge bucks for development of pilgrim, they have stopped beggars  it is observed almost at every pilgrim where people make irritates by begging  and various sadhus sits, call you and give some jhada type and force you to give them money in ashirwad, but Shrine board has totally stopped that practice in this pilgrim.

Bhawan: From adhkuwari to Bhawan there are two ways to reach, many people doesn’t know this that shrine board has developed a new way which is very much smoother and there is auto rickshaw facility also if some wants to go by auto rickshaw otherwise it is nice route and very easy to hikers  as khachhar are not allowed there, other route is old route which is tougher, when I reached adhkuwari, I had booking of room there which I made two months earlier, I stopped there enrolled myself for darshan, my no. was 557 and entry of no. 200 something was going on it was obvious that it will take very much time and I took my lunch and made a stoppage and took some rest, after one hour I decided to go bhawan as I cannot waste my time but I saw new gate was closed and it closes down for some sort of time in a day for maintenance work and it opened at 4 PM in evening and at 4 I started my journey back and till 7, I reached to bhawan, here I collected my group number.the group number is allotted at the Yatra Slip Counter located on the left hand side immediately after the luggage check post. This group number would then determine the sequence in which the yatries would have the Holy Darshan in summer Bhawan has aarti time in evening from 7:20 Pm to 9 PM and there was a huge row as it was aarti time the raw was stopped and we wait in the queue till 9 we were in queue and after aarti queue was started again and till 10 we got darshan of “pindies” and I was in hurry to get back as my no. may approach fast in adhkuwari and till 1:00 AM I was back but Sr. no. was reached up to some 450 only then I went to my room and I fall in sleep as I have already tired much and suddenly at 4 in morning  I woke up and came out of room and saw that Sr. no. 555 is on board, I washed my face and rushed to downside, at 4:30 I got entry and it was my luck that after 4:30 to 7 entry remains close and luckily I was last person to enter but I had to wait there also as there was aarti time and some of we person was waiting there in groups, after aarti we were in row again and at around 7 we reached up to cave “gufa”, there is also one thing to know, it is saying that very few person are lucky to have darshan of  mata rani in the adhkuwari gufa, mostly peoples fears and in haste they try to get out of cave as this very congested cave (don’t know how mata stayed there for such a long period of time) and forgets about darshan, it is just at the place when one enters in the cave  at right side so if someone is planning, don’t get forget to darshan there.

Aarti: After Darshan I came to room again and take a sleep for an hour and then again picked up my bag for once more time darshan of main darbar, this time I had booking of room in vaishnavi Bhawan at main bhawan and had booking in evening arti so I started back and way towards darbar, I reached around 4 in evening and checked-in the room and took snacks and went for gate no. 8 Kalika Bhawan for taking token of my aarti darshan, fortunately I got token no. 4 and got position in third row at aarti, that was superb experience at aarti and I forgot all my tiredness and enjoyed lot. Temple persons prvided red cloth written jay mata di on it to wear on head and a book and prasad has been given at the time of token, It starts from Durga Saptsati mantras, then sloks and shamma prathna, all are in the book itself which has been provided then there is Bhajan vella, the persons who sing are so enthusiastic and how they sings will definitely boost energy and devotion in one and there is Arti of Mata rani and arti of gufa, all are mindblowing experience and it is saying there that at time of arti, devtas himself comes there for arti of Mata Rani and it can be felt if you have faith in mata rani, one thing person should do, before attending aarti you should see the saptsati mantras and sloks online and their hindi or english translations as these are in sanskrit and if you can’t understand those at the time of arti it will not give much pleasure.

Bhairav Ghati: The same night I satyed there and in early morning I started for Bhairav Ghati, Bhairav ghati route again is very tough as it has sharp slight upward way within one hour I reached their, took some piece of photos on photo point falls on the way and in front of Bhairav mandir, from where all view of Darbar arrives.

Back Downwards: Coming back to down is not tough enough, there is old route which is shorter from bhairav ghati to downside, don’t forget to make house of stones on the way, it is saying that building house from stones on the return way brings you prosperity.

Till evening I reached back to downside, I called hotel person, he arrived and picked me up and dropped me to bus stand, from where I took bus for Jammu and in night I satyed in Jammu and in morning I got my train to back home.

Stay in Katra-
Some of friends has requested to suggest about Stay in Katra, then i would recommend to visit various online sites which offers many discounts such as Make My Trip,  cleartrip, Yatra.com Travelguru or one may search all list of hotels in Katra from click to search hotels in katra

Watch Video of travel Guide to Mata Vaishno Devi

Now this beautifull journey ends here, I will definitely love to hear your individuals experainces or mistakes if you have made during your trip so that other people may be benifited and corrections if I made mistake in my blog.

How to reach from delhi to Katra-
one of friend asked to provide information of any bus service from Delhi to Katra, he may visit the widget i have added now for booking of Bus.

Jay Mata Di!!!

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