Maa Vindhyavasini Temple
This famous temple, dedicated to Ma Vindhyavasini or Ma Vindhyachal wali, is epicentre of whole divine city Vindhyachal. Situated exactly on the banks of the river Ganga at Vindhyachal, Ma Vindhyavasini temple is the most prime temple of whole Vindhyachal area. Actually, this is not a single temple, but a complex of many temples dedicated to many deities e.g. Goddess Kali, Goddess Saraswati, Lord Shiva, Divine duo Radha- Krishna, Lord Hanuman and Lord Bhairava. However, most prime among them is temple dedicated to Ma Vindhyavasini itself.
Majority of the idols in this temple complex, including that of Ma Vindhyavasini, are of black stone. The Vindhyavasini Devi is depicted as seated on the Lion. She represents Goddess Lakshmi out of trinity of Hindu Goddesses.
The Vindhyavasini temple is visited by huge number of people every day, especially Tuesday and Full Moon Day. In the pious days of Navaratri (Literal Meaning- Nine Nights), huge crowd of devotees come to get the blessings of Ma Vindhyavasini.
Ma Vindhyavasini is popularly also called by her devotees as ‘Vindhyachal Maï’ (Mother of Vindhyachal) or ‘Vindhyavasini Maï’ (Mother Vindhyavasini). She is considered Family Goddess (Kul Devi), Protecting Goddess (Rakshak Devi) as well as Regional Goddess (Kshetra Devi) of two states of India; Bihar as well as Eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Mythologicaly, Maa Vindhyavasini is Mahishasur Mardini (Killer of demon Mahishasur), as enumerated in Chapter Durga Saptashati of Markandey Purana.
Mantra of Maa Vindhyavasini-
Om Hreem Mahalakshmai Namah (ॐ ह्रीं महालक्ष्म्यै नमः)