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The Vaishnodevi Experience 2023

My first trip to Vaishnodevi was unimpressive. Climbing was hard, and it only served to highlight how badly out of shape I was, while my in-laws managed to cope so much better. Further, I hadn’t quite realized that the cave experience wouldn’t be the same as I had imagined, since the original cave was only opened at certain times a year, and that we only entered a newly created tunnel, one far easier to access, and hence more manageable with the crowds that thronged the mountain shrine. The resulting experience at the shrine, for barely a fraction of a second, hardly compared to what I had expected / imagined / heard about. So, for me, Vaishnodevi was like any other temple, nothing to write home about, something that was reflected (though not explicitly mentioned) in the blog post I wrote then.
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Navaratri Experiences-4

The first three days of Navaratri are dedicated to the goddess Parvati, and yesterday was the last of this phase. When I told my son about this, he decided that since he could not dress up as Parvati obviously, he would dress up as Shiva, his main interest was in being allowed to hold a Trishul. Of course we refused, so he compromised by agreeing to wear a ‘Veshti’ and making a Trishul with his blocks. We hosted the Navaratri Bhajan at our place yesterday, and this gave him an added reason to dress up. “If you all can wear lovely sarees and dress up, why can’t I dress up too?” was his legitimate question. You can see the results in the photographs below.

From Miscellaneous

From Miscellaneous


At the temple, the decoration was dedicated to BHUVARAHA SWAMY – this is the form of Vishnu when he too the form of a wild boar – the Varaha Avatar. The lord took this form when the demon Hiranyaksha hid Bhoomi Devi (Mother Earth) in the ocean. In the form of a wild boar, the lord Carried Bhoomi Devi out of the water and placed her carefully in her place before going back to kill the demon. Here, He is depicted as carrying Bhoomi Devi in his arms. This form of Vishnu is seen at Tirupati, where He is believed to have given the land to Lord Venkateswara, allowing Him to reside there. It is customary to have darshan of Varaha swamy before having darshan of Lord Venkateswara.

From Miscellaneous

People who want to buy a house or land pray to BhuVaraha Swamy or participate in the Bhu Varaha Yagna. In Tamilnadu, there is a famous temple of Bhuvaraha swamy at Srimushnam near Chidambaram. In Karnataka, there is a gigantic 21 feet high image of Pralaya Varaha Moorthy with a 6 feet tall Lakshmi sitting on his lap, at Kalahalli in Krishnarajpet Taluk in Mandya District.

From Miscellaneous

That’s all for today folks. Hope to get back to all of you tomorrow with lots more photographs.
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