Vaishno Devi Temple

Vaishno Devi's sanctum is a narrow limestone cave on the Trikuta hills above Katra, where three natural rock formations, the pindis, are worshipped as manifestations of Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati. The shrine's antiquity is unrecorded but its cave geology and the intermediate Ardhkuwari cave along the pilgrim path have shaped centuries of oral tradition about the goddess's flight from a demon. Since the 1980s the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board has engineered a paved 12-kilometre pilgrim track, battery car routes and a ropeway to manage the tens of millions who visit annually, making it one of the highest-footfall pilgrimage sites in India despite its remote mountain setting and complete absence of monumental architecture.