The goddess was the eight child of Devaki who the evil king Kansa wanted to kill but the Devi escaped from his grasp and flew up in the air towards the sky, but before that she professed the doom of the evil Kansa by stating that the man who would slay him has already been born.
It is at a distance of three kilometer from the Vindhyavasani temple. The mother goddess has eight hands to bless her devotees, the idol is kept in a cave, and one has to slip through a very narrow opening to get to the cave and touch the feet of the goddess, her idol is jet black in colours and the goddess is covered with flowers and marigold garlands. One need or climb 160 steps to get to the temple as the cave is on a steep hill. One can also use the rope way to get to the temple. We tried tow times to get a Darshan but failed both times as the rope way was still being renovated.
This was going to be my last attempt to get the blessing of Ashtabhuja and I took another route a took span kingly new auto to get to the temple and I had an astute Auto driver called Ram Lakhan who was ready to drive me up the hill to the edge of the temple. I had to complete the tritons Parikrama and its as a must that I had to visit the Devi’s temple.
With try help of my auto I navigated many small roads across villages and farmland to finally get to the hill where the temple was. In between I stopped over to see a huge water Kund a reservoir of water that was called the Tantric Kund.
Finally, we climbed up with some Prasad and flowers and I managed to get a glimpse of the goddess, I prayed with all my heart and even tied a red chunni. This was a way to make my prayers be heard by the goddess. Their sheer idols of Lord Hanuman as well, I worshipped at the feet of the idol of Kaal Bhairava, it was a deep spiritual experience what I enjoyed most was ringing the brass bells whenever I asked for a boon from the goddess.
They say that even now the grant Rishi and Sage Markandeya is meditating and praying to the goddess Ashtabhuja, and that he resides in the cave on the left of the Devi. The temple was full today as the month of Navratri are on and then there is Deepawali. There was a havan kund in the Centre of the temple.
There are also small temples of Lord Shiva and Ganesha. There is a lot of positive energy and vibrancy inside the temple, and it is a must visit for devotees of the mother goddess
I managed to say my prayers and felt blessed when I walked out of the Ashtabhuja temple.
