Kheer Bhawani — Kashmiri Hindu tutelary goddess
Kheer Bhawani is the patron goddess of Kashmiri Pandits — the most revered pilgrimage site for the exiled community since 1990. The temple is built over a sacred spring that CHANGES COLOR — traditionally a change to black portends calamity for Kashmir. The color shifted black before the 1947 partition, the 1990 Pandit exodus, and the 2016 unrest. The primary offering is kheer (rice-milk pudding). Pilgrims do not consume meat within kilometers of the shrine. The annual Jyesṭhā Aṣṭamī (June) yātra is the Kashmiri Pandit New Year and homecoming.
Daily aarati at dawn and dusk; abhisheka with water/milk/turmeric; kumkum offering; red hibiscus; oil lamp. For Tantric or non-Brahmin shrines: goat-sacrifice (traditional; increasingly symbolic pumpkin-breaking).
Hinduism's goddess-traditions are vast and diverse — 51 Shakti Pīṭhas, 10 Mahāvidyās, 9 Navadurga, 8 Ashta Matrika, hundreds of regional forms. Each is a distinct face of the one supreme Mahā-Devī.
