A Pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi Shrine

During this Dashain holidays, I was on a tour to India and my itinerary included a pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi.

- LB Thapa

However, despite my best effort I could not manage time to visit Vaishno Devi temple.

My first destination was Sanchi. At Sanchi I wanted to see great Stupas, which were originally commissioned by emperor Ashoka the great in the 3rd century BCE. The main Stupa was built over the relics of Lord Buddha.

After spending one day at Sanchi, I went to Bhopal to see a temple of Shree Pashupatinath. The temple was built by the Nepali community of Bhopal in 1979. I boarded a local train from Sanchi to Bhopal. Bhopal is about 40km away from Sanchi.

While staying in Bhopal, I came to know about a Nepali family, originally from Tansen, Palpa, had just returned from Vaishno Devi. I decided to meet the family and collect necessary information that could be helpful to the esteemed readers of Hospitality, Food & Wine.

The fact is that every year hundreds of thousands of Nepali pilgrims do visit Vaishno Devi.

I didn’t find it difficult to find the house of the Nepali family as they were living at Milan Residency, a posh colony in downtown Bhopal city. Upon reaching their house, I received a warm welcome from Mr. Vijay Thakur, Mrs. Laxmi Thakur, elder daughter Aashi Thakur and the youngest daughter Samridhi Thakur. Before I began asking about their visit to Vaishno Devi, I gifted them a replica of Swayambhunath temple as a token of love. They appreciated the gift.

“Every year we visit Vaishno Devi to pay our solemn tribute to mata Vaishno Devi”, said Vijay Thakur, a government employee at the Madhya Pradesh Railway Mail Service, Bhopal.

“Ever since we began visiting to Vaishno Devi, I found everything changing in our lives. By the grace of mata Vaishno Devi, we are living a very happy and satisfied life,” he added.