Journey to Mata Naina Devi

 

Mata Naina Devi is one out of 51 Nos. Shaktipeeths in India. It is situated in Himachal Pradesh and very much near to Sri Anandpur Sahib. It is about 10-12 Kms from Sri Anandpur Sahib. This is very old temple and there are three ways of reaching there i.e. ropeway, Staircases or by car directly driving to temple. Most of people reach the temple either by ropeway or by car. Pilgrims rarely uses staircases there. Although there are not much of distance by using staircases. There is total distance of 1 Km by using staircases.

Our Journey to Mata Naina Devi:-

We started our Journey from New Delhi to Mata Naina Devi which is covering distance of 265 Kms from Delhi. We booked cab through Lolo cabs name of which was recently get known to me. I booked the cab for Too and Fro distance of 730 Kms for lumpsum amount of Rs.10000/- which includes toll taxes, entry fee and Driver charges. No extra charges were required to be paid against the same. They provided me Swift Dezire with CNG fitment.

You will get CNG from Delhi to Punjab at Suitable locations. So there is nothing to worry about availability of CNG throughout the distance. We started our journey on 14^th May 2022 at 1 O’clock. We take 1-2 stopages of 10-30 minutes through the Journey and we have taken route as guided by GPS.

When you reach near Sri Anandpur Sahib there are 2 routes to reach the Mata Naina Devi. One route is through Sri Anandpur Sahib and another route is on way to Manali and get diversion after 4-5 Kms on route to Manali. GPS showed us that route and we followed that route although roads available were well constructed but roads were quite narrow and also very much deserted. We even found one Deer along the way. Finally we reached at place around 9:30 PM.

Hotel Booking:-

We already booked hotel Naming The Grover Residency. We tried to find various sites and options for booking any place in Mata Naina Devi in order to avoid hiccups at the last moment. There was only option available at Make my trip and various other travel portals. But location of the same from Mata Naina Devi Temple couldn’t be confirmed so I tried to contact the Hotel. I sent a message from Google and the concerned person shared his contact no. I immediately called the person and he gives me 3 type of rooms options available for booking the Hotel.

He offered room prices ranging from 1000-1800/-. 3^rd floor room they offered at Rs.1000/- with basic room, 2^nd floor room at price of 1500/- with deluxe room and last option for Super Deluxe rooms for costing of Rs.1800/-. He convinced me to book Super Deluxe rooms as rooms are spacious. I negotiated for room prices and he offered me discount of Rs.200/- and booked the hotel immediately as there are no other options available on internet for booking. I even transferred Rs.300/- for booking confirmation.

Now when we reached at Hotel reception they requested for full payment. So I paid the full amount. Then he takes us to room and these rooms were terrible as toilets were stinking and toilet seats were not fixed when we flush the toilet whole water came out from bottom making the place even worse. Laundry wasn’t cleaned at all. This was most terrible experience for all of us. They fooled us and taken away our hard earned money for their shit. The rooms which we booked on 1^st floor were on the basement and there is no third floor at all the hotel. He made fool of the customers.

 

Rooms booking options and Food availability:-

Never trust so much on internet and these travel portals. When we enquired about the food availability at Hotel they told us that there are only 2 options available at hotel one is lentil and other is Gram. First we thought that there will no other option available for food nearby but we decided to not to eat in Hotel considering such a hotel where rooms were not maintained how could be food available there so we decided to visit the nearby area to explore the eating options. So we visited near to bus stand where there were so many rooms and eating options available.

So we were feeling getting looted by Hotel as there are so many other options available for staying there. So never trust so much on internet. So book your place of living only after visiting there. You will find so many Guest houses and Hotels with AC accommodation. Also these places are quite nearer to Staircases of Mata Naina Devi. You will also get so much of eating options there, they are not so much good but you can still find some good food.

Journey to Mata Naina Devi:-

You can use staircases for up to Mata Naina Devi Temple. This is not a long distance only 1 Km. The staricases are well cleaned. You can find lot of shops over there for providing Prashad for Bhawan. After reaching there you can find good view of temple and little bit of crowd and you can get in temple within 15-20 minutes.

There was also famous story associated with this temple is of Jatt Jeona Morh, he was famous dacoit. As people said that he was devotee of Mata Naina Devi and often visit at temple. During one visit to Mata Naina Devi police started following him and he prayed to Mata Naina Devi to save him and since he had great devotion in Mata Naina Devi, Mata Naina told him to jump from the cliff without looking back, if he will look back he will not be saved. After hearing the instructions Jatt Jeona Morh jumped from cliff and without any harm he landed on surface and after seeing that nothing has happened to him he become over confident and looked back and moment he looked back police shoot him dead.

There is also Samadh below Mata Naina Devi temple of Jatt Jeona Morh.

Places to visit Near Mata Naina Devi:-

If you planning to visit Mata Naina Devi than you can also explore nearby place which are quite beautiful and devotional places:-

1.       Takhat Sri Kesgarh Sahib- Which is situated in Sri Anandpur Sahib.

2.       Virasat-e-Khalsa