Avtar Bhat
SRINAGAR/JAMMU, July 3: Amid the surge in Amarnath pilgrims with over 15,000 pilgrims performing darshan at holy cave on Day five, the Saffron-robed holy mace of Lord Shiva popularly known as ‘Chhari Mubarak’ will be taken from its abode Dashnami Akhara Srinagar to Pahalgam on Vyas Purnima falling on July 9 for special prayers.
To maintain the age old tradition and rituals including Bhoomi-Pujan, Navgreh Pujan and Dhawajarohan, connected with commencement of annual Chhari-Mubarak Shri Amarnathji Yatra, will be performed at Pahalgam on auspicious occasion of Ashad-Purnima (Vyas-Purnima) that falls on Sunday, July 9, this year, the custodian of holy mace Mahant Deependra Giri said in a statement today.
He said after performing the rituals, Chhari-Mubarak will return to Dashnami Akhara the same day.
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Chhari-Mubarak will commence its main course of journey form Dashnami Akhara Srinagar to the cave shrine of Shri Amarnath Ji situated at an altitude of 3880 metre in deep Himalayas of Lidder Valley on August 2.
Mahant Deependra Giri said en route to Pahalgam, special prayers will be performed at Durga-Nag Temple and Sureshwar Temple, Srinagar, Shiv Temple Pampore, Shiv Temple Bijbehara, Martand-Tirth Mattan, Ganesh Temple across river Lidder, Ganeshbal and Gouri-Shankar Temple in Pahalgam.
He said after night halt at Pahalgam, special prayers would be offered at Pahalgam on August 3 before the start of the onward journey to the cave shrine in South Kashmir Himalayas same day.
After leaving Pahalgam, he said the Chhari Mubarak will be taken to Chandanwari for the second night halt on Dwadashi falling on August 4.
It will be taken to Sheshnag on Tryodashi (August 5) and would leave for Panchtarni on Chaturdashi the next day i.e August 6.
On August 7, the Chhari Mubarak would proceed for holy cave for Puja from Panchtarni on the occasion of Raksha- Bandhan coinciding with Shravan Purnima for darshan.
Traditional rituals would be performed for the whole day at the cave shrine, he said, adding before dusk, the holy mace would leave for night halt at Panchtarni.
On August 8, the holy mace will reach Pahalgam from Panchtarni for night halt, Mahant Ji said, adding ‘Pujan’ and ‘Visarjan’ ceremonies would be performed on the banks of river Lidder the next day.
Traditional ‘Kari Pakouri Bhandara’, which is the last ritual in connection with the pilgrimage, would be organised for Sadhus at Pahalgam, on August 9 marking the end of the religious yatra, he said.
Deependra Giri said in a communication to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, has urged the State Government to make all the necessary arrangements and take the appropriate preventive measures for the safety and security of the Sadhus and pilgrims accompanying the holy mace.
He said Mahadev Giri Dashnami Akhara Trust has made all the arrangements like yesteryears for sadhus coming from across the country for the annual pilgrimage for their food and comfortable stay at Akhara Building in Budshah Chowk area of the Srinagar city.
“Pujan will also be performed at the historic Martand Temple, Mattan in Anantnag district en route,” he said.
Before joining the yatra, he said Chhari Mubarak would be taken to various temples in the city and will be offered special prayers beginning July 23.
On July 23, Chhari Mubarak would be taken to Shankaracharya temple on a hillock overlooking the city and will return to its abode the same day, he said, adding it would be taken to Sharika Bhawani Temple at Hariparvat in downtown Srinagar the next day.
‘Chhari-Sthapana’ and ‘Dhwajarohan’ ceremonies would be performed at Dashnami Akhara on July 26 followed by traditional Chhari-Pujan on Nagpanchami the next day, Mahant Ji said.
On the Day five of darshan today 15,813 pilgrims paid obeisance in the holy cave. Besides, 7,486 yatris left from the Baltal route and 5,091 from the Pahalgam route for the holy cave and, cumulatively, since the beginning of the pilgrimage, 62,608 yatris have had the darshan at the holy cave.
The fifth batch of over 3,000 pilgrims left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas, Jammu today for the cave shrine.
Chants of “Jai Bholay Nath, Bum Bum Bholey” were heard as 3,313 devotees — 2,310 men, 671 females and 152 sadhus and sadhvis — left Jammu in 88 vehicles.
The convoy was escorted by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) vehicles, an official spokesperson said.
With today’s batch, 15,360 pilgrims have left Jammu for Amarnath since the pilgrimage began on June 28, he added.
Multi-tier security arrangements have been made for the 40-day pilgrimage. These include satellite tracking systems, jammers and bulletproof bunkers, dog squads, CCTV cameras and quick response teams in addition to thousands of security personnel guarding the route in view of the increased threat perception and violence in the Valley.
In view of heavy rush of Amarnath pilgrims, the registration process has been suspended temporarily at all the counters here, an official said.
”Due to heavy rush of pilgrims, the registration at the counters established in this winter capital has been temporarily suspended,” an official at Yatri Niwas the base of Amarnath Yatris said.
He said that the pilgrims are being registered at Vaishnavi Dham, Saraswati Dham, Ram Mandir, Parade and at the base camp.
”Only those pilgrims, who will be allowed to stay at the Yatri Niwas, are being registered,” he added. He further said that unprecedented rush of pilgrims is in Jammu and all of them cannot be registered in one-go.
The weather enroute cave shrine on both the tracks was pleasant for entire day today and yatra also proceeded smoothly.
Meanwhile Governor N.N. Vohra, Chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, along with Umang Narula, C.E.O and Jitendra Kumar, Additional CEO of the Shrine Board, viewed the progress of the Yatra through the live video images of the movement of Yatris across the Access Control Gates at Domel and Chandanwari. This viewing was done in the Yatra Control Room set up at Raj Bhavan, Srinagar.
Governor chaired another meeting today to review the functioning of the Sewage Treatment Plants at Nunwan and Baltal Base Camps and gave directions to CEO to take time- bound action for further improvements being made in the functioning of the two STPs, based on the presentation made today by Sanjeev Gupta, Managing Director, Sophisticated Industrial Material Analystic Lab Pvt. Ltd. and his team where Jitendra Kumar Singh, Additional CEO of the Board and R.K. Pandita, GM (Works) were also present.
During the presentation Chairman was apprised about the designs and latest technologies available for further augmenting the Sewage Treatment capabilities of the existing STPs at the Base Camps of Nunwan and the Baltal.
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