Govind Sharma
SRINAGAR, Aug 23: The 59-day-long symbolic pilgrimage to Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas culminated today with performing of last rituals i.e. ‘Pujan’ & ‘Visarjan’ at the bank of River Lidder in Pahalgam.
Only selected number of Sadhus accompanied the Chhari Mubarak, the holy Mace of Lord Shiva and participated in the Pujan. A number of members of Parliamentary delegation including Jagdambika Pal, Sushil Modi and Digvijay Singh, who are currently on a visit to Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, also participated in the Poojan.
Mahant Deependra Giri along with other priests performed ‘Samapan Pooja’ to mark the end of this year’s Amarnath Yatra. Addressing a small gathering after the culmination ceremony, Mahant Deependra Giri said that though our country is called a land of diversity, people belonging to almost every faith can be found in India wherein many religions coexist but annual pilgrimage of Shri Amarnath ji is unique as people from all walks of life in Jammu and Kashmir belonging to different sections/religions contribute to make it successful.
He expressed his happiness over performing all the traditional rituals and ‘Pujan’ connected with annual pilgrimage at the holy Shrine of Amarnath Ji on ‘Shravan-Purnima’ and other places on different occasions. The Holy Mace was airlifted to Holy Shrine of Amarnath ji for the third consecutive year. The Chhari Mubarak reached the cave shrine on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan on Sunday.
Though Government of Union Territory decided to call off this year’s pilgrimage too for the safety of pilgrims but all the rituals connected with Chhari-Mubarak of Amarnath Ji were performed with religious fervor and gaiety since 24th of July on the occasion of ‘Ashad-Purnima’ when Bhoomi Pujan was performed at Pahalgam that marks the commencement of annual pilgrimage religiously and traditionally.
Chhari-Mubarak was taken to historic Shankaracharya Temple in Srinagar on 8th of August on the occasion of ‘Haryali Amawasaya’ and Sharika Bhawani Temple on the hillock of Hari Parvat on 9th of August, respectively. Rituals connected with ‘Chhari Sthapana’ were performed on 11th of August and traditional ‘Pujan’ was performed on 13th of August on the occasion of ‘Nag-Panchami’ in Shri Amareshwar Temple located inside Dashnami Akhara Srinagar. All these rituals were performed following all the SOPs and COVID appropriate behaviour.
Mahant Deependra Giri, Mahant Chhari-Mubarak and custodian of the Holy Mace said that the Union Territory Administration had made adequate arrangements to airlift Chhari-Mubarak that made him possible to carry out his religious obligations and preserving the age-old traditions in wake of the cancellation of annual pilgrimage due to COVID-19 pandemic.
He said in the wake of the cancellation of the Yatra, Amarnath Ji Shrine Board had also made arrangements for Live Telecast of morning and evening ‘Aarti’ and ‘Darshan’ during the entire auspicious month of ‘Shravan’ that facilitated millions of devotees across the Globe.
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