Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Aug 18: With Chhari Mubarak -the holy mace of Lord Shiva paying obeisance at cave shrine on the occasion of auspicious day of Shravan Purnima –coinciding with the annual festival of Raksha Bandhan, the 48-day along annual pilgrimage of Swami Amarnath Ji in deep Himalayas in South Kashmir district of Anantnag ended today.
On the last day of pilgrimage today, 362 yatris including Sadhus carrying holy mace paid obeisance at cave shrine taking the total number of pilgrims who performed darshan at holy cave situated at an altitude of 3880 metres this year to 2,20,761 despite the ongoing unrest.
However, this year’s figure is the lowest in the past decade while the latest lowest record was in 2007 when 2.96 lakh pilgrims performed darshan at cave shrine.
The holy mace of Lord Shiva carried by sadhus and devotees led by its custodian Mahant Deependra Giri, chanting Bum Bum Bholay and religious hymns arrived at the holy cave in the wee hours for the day-long prayers and Pujan in a traditional way, an official spokesman said.
The Sadhus carrying holy mace left the Panchtarni –the last halting station to cave shrine during the mid night to trek the eight kilometer terrain braving the cold breeze and inclement weather.
The sadhus and devotees who started their journey by foot from Pahalgam trekked 42 kilometers from Pahalgam to reach the cave shrine with night halts at Chandanwari, Sheshnag and Panchtarani.
After traditional rituals at the sanctum sanctorum, the holy mace started the return journey before dusk today. It will have a night halt at Panchtarni where from it will leave for Pahalgam early tomorrow morning. The holy mace will stay at Pahalgam for night before leaving for its abode Amriteshwar temple at Dashnami Akhara , Srinagar next day.
While officially the yatra ended today, ‘pujan’ and ‘visarjan’ (immersion) ceremonies for the journey of ‘Chhari Mubarak’ would be performed on the banks of Lidder river in Pahalgam on August 20. It will be followed by a traditional open kitchen, the last ritual of the pilgrimage.
The yatra had commenced from Pahalgam and Baltal routes amid strict security arrangements on July 2, a week before protests erupted in the Valley following the killing of dreaded terrorist Burhan Wani by security forces on July 8.
Twenty-nine people — 21 pilgrims, a sage, three sevadars (community kitchen workers), two local Muslims and as many paramilitary troopers — died during the yatra after suffering cardiac arrest, while 40 yatris and 10 locals were injured after falling from steep slopes, the officials said.
A pilgrim and a Muslim driver were killed when a yatra bus collided with a truck near Bijbehara on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway on July 13. Despite the law and order problem, the number of pilgrims crossed the two lakh mark on July 24. But the arrivals declined after that, with over 20,000 pilgrims paying obeisance in the last 25 days. A record 6.36 lakh pilgrims participated in the yatra in 2011 and 6.22 lakh the next year.
The subsequent years saw a decline in the footfall. In 2013, 3.53 lakh; in 2014, 3.72 lakh and in 2015, 3.52 lakh pilgrims participated.
In 2008, when Jammu and Kashmir witnessed protests in the wake of the Amarnath land row, a total of 5.33 lakh pilgrims joined the yatra, followed by 3.81 lakh in 2009 and 4.55 lakh in 2010, when the Valley faced violent agitation over alleged human rights violation. About 2.96 lakh pilgrims visited the cave shrine in 2007.
This year, most of the pilgrims preferred the shorter Baltal route in Ganderbal district of central Kashmir over the traditional Pahalgam route, the officials said.
As per a handout issued by Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), the annual pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine concluded today, on Shravan Purnima, amid chanting of religious hymns in the spiritual ambience of South Kashmir Himalayas.
P K Tripathi, Chief Executive Officer of Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board and Jitendra Kumar Singh, Additional CEO, visited the cave shrine early this morning and prayed for sustained peace, harmony, progress and prosperity in the State. After return from the holy cave, the CEO briefed the Governor (Chairman, SASB) about the peaceful conclusion of the Yatra.
The CEO stated that over 2.20 lakh Yatris had paid obeisance at the shrine during this year’s pilgrimage, which had commenced on July 2 along both the Baltal and the Pahalgam routes.The Governor expressed satisfaction over the incident-free conduct of this year’s Yatra barring road accidents which took place at Halmulla, Bijbehara, Anantnag District, and another near the Access Control Gate, Chandanwari.
The Governor expressed concern and sympathy over the loss of 22 lives of pilgrims, service providers and others in this year’s Yatra, of whom 2 died due to accidents and 20 due to medical reasons. He stressed the need for identifying fresh and further measures which could possibly prevent loss of precious lives in the future Yatras.
The Governor asked the CEO to immediately launch a full scale post-Yatra sanitation drive, fully involving the Pahalgam and Sonamarg Development Authorities, so that the entire Yatra area is effectively cleaned up in the next 5 days.
The Governor also urged the CEO to ensure complete cleaning up of all Camp sites and to prepare a Camp and route-wise Action Plan for Yatra 2017, keeping in view the experiences gained during this year’s pilgrimage. He stressed that route-wise arrangements of all aspects of the Yatra must be worked out well in advance, with particular focus on medicare, sanitation, cleanliness, water and power supply and other facilities and, side by side, ensuring effective protection of environment and ecology of the Yatra area. In this context, the Governor is chairing the Post Yatra Review Meeting on August 20 in which around 130 officers who were involved with the management of Yatra 2016 will participate.
The Governor complimented the civil and police administrations of Anantnag and Ganderbal districts, J&K Police, Central Armed Police Forces, Army, and all the involved State Government departments and other agencies for the smooth conduct of Yatra.
Follow our WhatsApp channel