KARACHI – Sindh government has announced a bus service for Hinglaj Yatra, the largest Hindu pilgrimage in the country from July 15.
Hinglaj Yatra is the pilgrimage of the cave temple of Hindu Devi – Shri Hinglaj Mata – on the Makran coast in the Lasbela district of Balochistan. More than 250,000 people take part in the Hinglaj Yathra every year.
Sindh Minister for Minority Affairs Gyan Chand Esrani has that the initiative has been taken on the direction of PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to facilitate those who cannot afford the travel expenses of pilgrimage of Shri Hinglaj Mata.
Inaugurating the construction work of a hall at Swami Narayan Mandir in the port city, he said that lunch will be provided to the yatrees during the journey.
Giyan Chand said that the department would provide accommodation and meals to those who desired to stay there for multiple days during the pilgrimage. He said that the application for the pilgrimage would be sent to the Director of Minority Affairs through District Panchayat. He also announced the construction of a hostel for poor girl students at Swami Narayan Mandir.
Hinglaj Mata is one of the three Shakti Peethas in Pakistan, the other two being Shivaharkaray and Sharada Peeth.
Over the last three decades, the place has gained increasing popularity and become a unifying point of reference for Pakistan’s many Hindu communities.
The temple is in a small natural cave. There is a low mud altar with no man-made image of the goddess. A small divine form of Hinglaj Mata is worshipped. The stone is smeared with sindoor (vermilion), which possibly gives the location its Sanskrit name Hingula, which is the root of the present-day name Hinglaj.
The cave temple of Hinglaj Mata is in a narrow gorge in the remote, hilly area of Lyari Tehsil in Balochistan. It is 250 kilometers to the northwest, 19 km inland from the Arabian Sea and 130 km to the west of the mouth of the Indus. It is at the end of a range of Kirthar Mountains, in the Makran desert stretch, on the west bank of the Hingol River. The area is under the Hingol National Park.
