JAMMU, INDIA, September 29, 2008: Starting Tuesday, the Vaishno Devi hill shrine in Jammu and Kashmir is celebrating the annual nine-day Navaratri festival.
Lasting through October 8, the festival will be held at the shrine and its base camp at Katra. There will be cultural and religious events, including nightly processions, as well as competitions like food, devotional songs and wrestling. Some 30,000 to 40,000 pilgrims are expected to converge at the shrine daily.
Katra town, the base camp of the pilgrimage in Trikuta hills from where devotees trek 12 km to reach the shrine dedicated to goddess Vaishno Devi, has been decorated for the occasion.