Waiting For Ram

Published on 21st August, 2016, in Mumbai Mirror. After a long crawl through a narrow cave in the hills of Jammu, you finally see Vaishno-devi embodied as three outcroppings of rock, draped with red cloth with gold tassels, flowers, with umbrellas hanging from above. The three rocks represent Maha-Lakshmi, Maha-Saraswati and Maha-Kali, the three forms of the Goddess. The air is rent with the jubilant cries of devotees, 'Jai Mata Di,' which is Punjabi for 'Jai Mata Ki.' It is important to clarify this as many assume that 'di' is a proper noun, a local name of the Goddess, rather than a preposition. Vaishno-devi is ..