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Sama Yatra
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Devi Yatra: Mantras, Guidance and Journeys

ॐ ऐं ह्रीं क्लीं चामुण्डायै विच्चे

Om aim hrim klim Chamundayai vicche

Om. Aim, hrim, klim, to Chamunda: reveal yourself. The three seed syllables stand for speech, power and desire, and the mantra is an invocation rather than a sentence.

Navarna Mantra, the nine-syllable mantra of the Devi Mahatmya

Recited before the Devi Mahatmya is read, and through the nine nights of Navaratri.

या देवी सर्वभूतेषु शक्तिरूपेण संस्थिता । नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः ॥

Ya devi sarva-bhuteshu shakti-rupena samsthita | namas-tasyai namas-tasyai namas-tasyai namo namah ||

To the Goddess who abides in all beings in the form of power: salutations to her, salutations to her, salutations to her, again and again.

Devi Mahatmya, chapter 5

The verse repeats through the chapter with a different quality each time: power, mercy, hunger, sleep, forgiveness. The same goddess in all of them.

ॐ कात्यायन्यै विद्महे कन्याकुमार्यै धीमहि । तन्नो दुर्गिः प्रचोदयात् ॥

Om Katyayanyai vidmahe Kanyakumaryai dhimahi | tanno Durgih prachodayat ||

May we know Katyayani, may we meditate on Kanyakumari. May Durga set us in motion.

Durga Gayatri

The goddess Devi enthroned in a jewelled crown and ornaments, holding a golden lotus, lamps burning in the darkness behind her

Travelling the Devi Path

The Devi route through Nepal is a circuit of Shakti Peethas and mountain shrines rather than one destination. Sama Yatra runs four Devi journeys, from two days among the goddess temples of the Kathmandu Valley to five days to Pathibhara in Taplejung. None has fixed departure dates: each runs on the dates your group asks for. What follows is the ground knowledge for any of them.

When is the best time for a Devi yatra in Nepal?

Dashain, in September or October, is the great festival of the Goddess in Nepal and lasts fifteen days. Temples are at their fullest and the country largely stops, which is worth knowing whether you want to be in the middle of it or well clear.

Navaratri in the spring, usually March or April, is the quieter of the two and easier to travel through.

The hill shrines are reachable most of the year. The monsoon, June to September, brings landslides on the roads, and in heavy rain the Pathibhara temple committee has asked pilgrims to postpone their visits.

Which goddess temples are on the Devi route?

Guhyeshwari in Kathmandu is counted among the Shakti Peethas and sits a short walk from Pashupatinath along the Bagmati. The two are usually visited together.

Dakshinkali, south of the valley, is where animal sacrifice is still made on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Go knowing that, or go on another day.

Manakamana, above the Trishuli river, is normally reached by cable car and is one of the most visited shrines in the country. The Nepal Tourism Board glosses the name as “having one’s wishes fulfilled”, and the queue reflects it.

What are the rules at a Devi temple?

Leather is not carried into most Devi shrines. That includes belts, watch straps and bags, and there is usually somewhere to leave them.

Red is the colour of the Goddess. Offerings are red cloth, red flowers, vermilion and sweets, and they are bought at the stalls outside rather than brought with you.

Photography inside a sanctum is generally not allowed, and at the sacrificial shrines it is resented even where it is permitted.

Sacred sites on this path

Devi Journeys

All journeys