A small initiative taken two years ago to revive the long-forgotten Pracheen Marg to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra is attracting pilgrims from all over the country during the Navratras.
Legend has it that Mata Vaishno Devi took this route to reach the Trikuta mountains.
For centuries, devotees from most parts of the Jammu region had been undertaking this route, which is dotted with temples, to reach the shrine, but it lost importance after the introduction of motor transport.
Devender Singh Rana, NC MLA from Nagrota, two years ago, started organising ‘shobha yatras’ on the ancient route.
“This heritage route has suffered neglect for decades. There cannot be a more befitting way of paying obeisance at the cave shrine during the Navratras than embarking on the spiritual odyssey from the ‘Pracheen Marg’,” said Rana.
This year, he flagged off a batch of pilgrims from the historic Kol Kandoli Temple in Nagrota, which is the starting point of the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage. The yatra passes through Jagti, Pangali, Thandapani, Marh, Gundla Talab and Bamyal.
A proposal has also been submitted to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board to give special attention to the area. The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage has already carried out a survey of ‘bowlis’ (springs), temples and other shrines falling in different villages here, so that the government can bring Nagrota on the religious tourism map.
“It can give an economic fillip to villages falling in the Nagrota constituency and surrounding areas. There are several revered temples and shrines en route to the holy cave,” said Randeep Singh, president, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Pracheen Marg Pavitar Yatra.
There is a tradition that when the pilgrimage progresses through Nomain, the ‘jyot’ (holy light) is carried by Gujjars.
