Each of these sampradays is differen-
tiated not only by its founder, but also by
its tutelary deity or deities. The
Ramanandis worshipthe god Rama,
whereas the others worship the god
Krishna and his consort Radha, but dif-
fer in the position that they give to
Radha. Scholars have noted that these
historical claims are either highly sus-
pect or completely spurious and that the
distinctions among the sampradays are
largely academic. Given that the over-
whelming majority of these ascetics are
Ramanandis, the others seem important
only for symbolic reasons, to include a
representative from each of the great
Vaishnava religious figures.
Vaishno Devi
Presiding goddessof the Vaishno Devi
shrine, located in a cave on Trikut
mountain in the hills near Jammu, and
one of the nine Shiwalik goddesses.
Pilgrims to Vaishno Devi travel by road
via Jammu to the village of Katra,
whence they walk the ten miles to the
shrine itself. As with many of the images
of the Shiwalik goddesses, the images at
Vaishno Devi are “self-manifested”
(svayambhu), in the form of three stone
outcrops. These outcrops are consid-
ered to be Mahakali,Mahalakshmi,
andMahasaraswati, the three forms
of the Goddess mentioned in the
Devimahatmya, the earliest and most
authoritative source for the mythology
of the Goddess. The presence of all three
goddesses is believed to make this site
extremely powerful, and according to
popular belief, Vaishno Devi grants
whatever request her devotees (bhakta)
make. According to some accounts,
those whose wishes are granted are
highly advised to make a second trip,
both to thank the Goddess and to bear
witness to her grace. The number of vis-
itors to the site has increased dramati-
cally in the recent past, perhaps
reflecting anxieties about modern
Indian life.
There are several stories connected
with Vaishno Devi’s charter myth. The
name Vaishnois a derivation of Vishnu,
reflecting the claim that Vaishno Devi
was born as a partial avatarof Vishnu.
One sign of this connection is that
Vaishno Devi is a vegetarian goddess, for
whom no animal sacrificescan be per-
formed. According to another story,
Vaishno Devi was the spot at which the
arms of the dismembered goddess Sati
fell to earth. Since this story is never fur-
ther connected to Vaishno Devi, this
seems a transparent attempt to tie into
the network of the Shakti Pithas, a
group of shrines sacred to the Goddess,
which stretch throughout the subconti-
nent. The longest version of the charter
myth reports that the cave is discovered
by a brahmin named Shridhara.
Shridhara, a great devotee of the
Goddess (who tested him in various
ways), is disturbed by the fact that he
has no children. The Goddess reveals
the location of the Vaishno Devi cave to
him in a dream. After an extensive
search he finally finds the cave and is
soon blessed with four sons, emphasiz-
ing the claim that Vaishno Devi will
grant the desires of her devotees, what-
ever they may be. For further informa-
tion see Kathleen Erndl, Victory to the
Mother, 1993. See also pitha.Vaishya
In the traditional Hindu social theory of
the four major social groups (varnas),
the vaishyas were the third group—less
influential than the brahmins and
kshatriyas, but with greater status than
the shudras. In this model of society,
the vaishyas’ social function was eco-
nomic activity, to provide the material
basis for social life. This image is
reflected in the creation story known as
the Purusha Sukta, in which the
vaishyas are described as being created
from the Primeval Man’s (purusha’s)
thighs—a standard euphemism for the
genitals, and thus the most direct con-
nection with fruition and procreation.
In fact, the jatis (endogamous social
subgroups, often determined by hered-
itary occupation) considered to beVaishya