While various versions of the origin and legend of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Ji are prevalent, there seems to be unanimity on the discovery of Shrine around 700 years back by the same Pandit Shridhar, at whose place Mata had helped organize a Bhandaara. Vedic literature gives no reference to the worship of any female deity, although the mountain Trikuta does find its mention in Rigveda, the oldest of the four Vedas The practice of worshipping Shakti, largely started in the Puranic period. A geological study of the Holy Cave has indicated its age to be nearly a million years.
Like with most old Shrines, it is not possible to ascertain when exactly the pilgrimage to the Holy Shrine started.
