Another important Shrine near the Vaishno Devi temple, is the Bhairavnath Temple, a cave temple dedicated to a saint by that name.Bhairavnath Temple – Katra
It is years ago, a poor Vaishnav named Shridhar lived in this region and was a faithful devotee of Ma Vaishno devi. One day Maa pleased with his devotion and appeared to him and asked to call everyone from the neighboring villages for a Bhandara (collective lunch). When he expressed his doubts about handling the preparations for so many people, the Goddess assured him that everything would be taken care of.Bhairavnath Temple – Katra
Bhairavnath Temple – Katra
As per her wishes, Shridhar invited everyone to the Bhandara. Amongst the list of invitees was , a malicious sage. On hearing Shridhar’s story about the divine Goddess and the Bhandara, he decided to come and check out her powers. When everyone assembled in front of Shridhar’s small hut, the Goddess appeared at the entrance in the form a of a small girl, and invited everyone inside. Surprisingly, the tiny little hut was able to hold all the people and as the devi started serving food from a small container, each villager got a hefty portion of his/her favourite food. Surprised by all this, tried to further test the powers of the Goddess and asked her for meat and wine, to which she politely replied that the hut belonged to a Vaishnav and only vegetarian food will be served here. However, Bhairavnath continued to rile her, till she disappeared. Using his tantrik powers, he followed her to the caves in the Trikuta mountain (where the shrine of Vaishno devi lies). On seeing him, the Goddess threw her trident (trishul) at Bhairavnath with so much force that his head fell about two kilometers away from the cave. In his last breath he begged Ma Vaishno devi to forgive him and asked for salvation. The devi acquiesced and promised him that all the devotees coming to her to seek blessings, will also have to visit his temple in order to complete their holy journey. The place where his head fell became the site of the temple. Bhairavnath Temple – Katra
The Bhairon Temple remained ignored prior to take over of the holy Shrine by Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board in the year 1986. The track leading to the temple was Kacha and in a dilapidated condition, making the climb a gruelling task. After the take over by shirine board , the development starts in this area, particularly the widening and beautification of the track, remodelling of steps, construction of rain shelters, toilets etc. The whole track has now been illuminated with High Pressure Sodium Vapour Lamps. Water supply has been augmented and toilet blocks have been constructed for the convenience of the pilgrims. The Temple area has been beautified by fixing marble tiles and slabs along the pre-ambulation of the temple. All these efforts have made the visit of the pilgrims to Bhairon temple much more convenient and memorable. Bhairavnath Temple – Katra
