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Nestled in the Trikuta mountains, Vaishno Devi Temple, 61 km from Jammu, is visited by thousands of devotees every year. It is considered to be one of the holiest pilgrimage places for Hindus in north India. The temple is perched at a height of 5,200 ft and Goddess Shakti is worshipped here in forms of Maha Kali, Maha Saraswati and Maha Lakshmi. A cave temple, the shrine houses three sacred ‘pindis’ or stone representations of three energy forms, which are worshipped as the aforementioned goddesses. Interestingly, all the pindis differ in colour and texture despite of having the same source rock. The pale white rock is said to represent Goddess Saraswati, lying on the extreme left, in the middle lies the yellow-red rock denoting Goddess Lakshmi, and the one on the left is black representing Goddess Kali. The holy cave shrine is said to have been built by the Pandavas of the epic Mahabharata. The first reference to the goddess is found in Mahabharata, when the Pandavas and Kauravas were preparing for the war at Kurukshetra. On Lord Krishna's advice, Arjun is said to have meditated on the Mother Goddess seeking her blessings for the victory. Another legend says has it that more than 700 years ago, Vaishno Devi, who was a devotee of Lord Vishnu, had taken a vow of celibacy.