Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 23: After two consecutive years of 10 million pilgrimage, the holy cave shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi ji, located in Trikuta Hills of Katra, is likely to miss the 10 million figure during the current year with yatra declining by 9.48 lakh in 2013 so far as compared to corresponding period last year.
Decline in the pilgrimage that started in the month of June continued in remaining part of the year. Despite shortfall of about 10 lakh, the year 2013 would still record third highest figure in term of pilgrimage in the history of the shrine.
Official sources told the Excelsior that 87,50,925 pilgrims have visited Mata Vaishno Devi shrine this year so far. Last year, 96,99,257 yatris had paid obeisance to Goddess Vaishno Devi during the similar period. The yatra has gone down by 9,48,332 this year.
Decline in the pilgrimage notwithstanding, the yatra was still quite significant as it was heading for third highest ever figure in the history after 2011 and 2012 when it had crossed 10 million mark and stood at 1.01 crore and 1.04 crore respectively.
This year, the Shrine Board authorities were expecting the pilgrimage to be around 95 lakh, down by at least nine lakh from the previous year.
During 23 days of this month, 4,58,214 yatris have offered prayers at Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan while the number for similar days last year was 4,62,747. In the previous month of October 9,85,432 pilgrims had visited the holy shrine as compared to 9,92,188 last year.
Uttarakhand tragedy in June, disturbances in Jammu region in the aftermath of Kishtwar violence in August, unabated tensions on the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) in August, September and October apart from twin terror attacks at Samba and Hiranagar in September were the factors, which were being attributed to slightly less pilgrimage this year to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.
The pilgrimage was almost at par with the last year during first six months of 2013 but it went down in the next about five months.
Pilgrimage went down by nearly four lakh in the month of July soon after Uttarakhand tragedy and by over two lakh in the month of August. The months of September, October and November have also witnessed decline in the yatra albeit the difference was not as high as in July and August.
During 2011, the pilgrimage to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, located at a height of 5200 feet from sea level, had, for the first time, crossed the figure of 10 million and stood at 1.01 crore. In 2012, the yatra went up to 1.04 crore.
During first six months of 2013, the trends indicated that pilgrimage would touch 10 million for third consecutive year but the latest figures showed that it would stay around 95 lakh.
After all time high yatra in a month to the shrine (12.68 lakh in June) this year, which was 52,000 more than the pilgrimage recorded in the same month last year, it went down considerably in the month of July when only 8.46 lakh devotees visited Vaishno Devi Bhawan as compared to 12.01 lakh last year.
In August, the yatra recorded further decline with 8.46 lakh pilgrims visiting the holy shrine as against 9.84 lakh of last year while in September 7.66 lakh pilgrims paid obeisance to the Goddess as against 8.77 lakh of last year. In October 9,85,432 pilgrims paid obeisance to the Goddess as against 9,92,188 of last year. In November also, the yatra was down by 5533 this year as compared to the same month previous year.
Pilgrimage to Mata Vaishno Devi was 13.95 lakh in 1986 when Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) had taken over affairs of the shrine. Since then, the yatra continued to go up every year creating new records.
It was for the first time in 1991 that the pilgrimage crossed 3 million (31.15 lakh). The 4 million mark was reached in 1996 while the yatra reached 50 lakh in 2000 and 60 lakh in 2004. It was in 2007 that the yatra stood at 74.17 lakh.
The pilgrimage came down to 67.92 lakh in 2008 due to two months long Amarnath land agitation but again went up to 82 lakh in 2009 and reached 87.2 lakh in 2010. It was for the first time in 2011 that the yatra crossed 10 million mark and stood at 1.01 crore.
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