Punjabi families have gone up into the Shivaliks and the Kangra hills to the Devi shrines for centuries: Jwalamukhi, where natural gas burns from the rock; Chintpurni; Naina Devi above Anandpur; Chamunda; and Vaishno Devi in the Jammu hills.
The pilgrimage is made on foot in jathas, with a red cloth, and it is one of the most widely practised religious observances among Punjabi Hindus and among a substantial number of Punjabi Sikhs.
Bhai Lehna, before he became Guru Angad Dev Ji, led an annual pilgrimage to Jwalamukhi. Guru Gobind Singh Ji's relations with the hill states and their shrines are the subject of long argument, particularly over the Chandi compositions.
Naina Devi sits directly above Anandpur, and the two are visited on the same trip by a great many families.
The mixed practice, a Sikh household going to a Devi shrine, is exactly what the Singh Sabha set out to end and it has not ended. Stating that plainly is more useful than pretending either that it does not happen or that it is uncontested.
The four hill shrines are visited in sequence by Punjabi families, often on foot in the Navratri periods, and the roads out of Punjab into Himachal carry walkers for a fortnight twice a year.
Jwalamukhi's flames burn from natural gas seeping through the rock and the shrine is built around them. Chintpurni, Naina Devi and Vaishno Devi each have their own foundation account.
Naina Devi is where Guru Gobind Singh Ji is recorded in the tradition as having performed a ceremony before 1699, which puts a Sikh episode at a devi shrine and is generally passed over quickly.