SRINAGAR : Pilgrimage to holy Amarnath cave shrine was progressing smoothly as fresh batches of yatris, including women and sadhus, left base camps early this morning and weather was also pleasant.
Chanting “Bam Bam Bholay and Har Har Mahadev”, fresh groups of pilgrims left Baltal and Nunwan Pahalgam base camps for the holy cave shrine early this morning, a yatra official said.
However, he confirmed that the number of pilgrims has come down as compared to first few weeks.
He said about 3,000 pilgrims from different parts of the country paid obeisance at the cave shrine yesterday.
Today, yatris are reaching the cave shrine, situated at 13,000 feet in south Kashmir Himalayas, to pay obeisance, he said.
So far, about 2 lakh pilgrims had darshan of the self made Ice-Shivlingam in the cave shrine. Majority of the yatris had since left for their homes though some of them stayed in house boats and visited a number of tourist places.
However, the pilgrims paying obeisance at the cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas said they have not faced any difficulty during the pilgrimage as there was no report of any attack on any pilgrim since the commencement of the 48-day-long yatra from July 2 from both shortest Baltal and traditional Pahalgam routes.
The official said that a fresh batch of pilgrims has left Baltal base camp for the cave shrine after overnight stay there. The yatris are likely to reach the cave shrine after covering the hilly terrain on foot this afternoon.
However, some of the pilgrims, particularly elders, are covering the distance on horse back and ‘palkies’ or dandies.
Meanwhile, pilgrims, who had paid obeisance and stayed at the cave shrine for the night, have also started their return journey early this morning.
Another batch of pilgrims left Nunwan Pahalgam base camp for Chandanwari, the last motorable halting station on the traditional track today. The number of pilgrims will be known only after 1100 hrs when the gate will be closed. Meanwhile, after night halt at Chandanwari, the pilgrims will start their onward journey towards the cave shrine early in the morning tomorrow.
The pilgrims, who had night halt at different halting stations on traditional track, have also started their journey this morning. (AGENCIES)
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