SRINAGAR : Undeterred by rain and drop in the mercury, fresh batches of pilgrims left base camps for the holy Amarnath cave shrine at 13,500 feet in south Kashmir Himalayas, where about 3.48 lakh pilgrims have paid obeisance so far since the commencement of the annual yatra from July 2.
On the 46th day of the 59-day-long pilgrimage, as many as 589 yatris, including women, sadhus and children, paid obeisance at the cave shrine yesterday. With this, a total of 3,47,336 pilgrims have paid obeisance at the cave shrine so far.
Bam Bam Bholay and Har Har Mahadev rented the air as fresh batches of devotees left Baltal and Nunwan Pahalgam base camps early this morning for the cave shrine despite rain and cloudy weather plummeting the mercury.
The annual 59-day-long pilgrimage will conclude on August 29 when the Chhari-Mubarak, holy silver mace of Lord Shiva will be taken inside the cave shrine for concluding the puja. A Yatra Control Room (YCR) official said that the number of pilgrims have considerably decreased during the past few weeks.
He said fresh batch of yatris, including women and sadhus, left Nunwan Pahalgam base camp for Chandanwari, the last motorable halting station on 45-km-long traditional yatra track. However, pilgrims who had night halt at Chandanwari and other halting station on the track have also started their journey towards the cave shrine early this morning.
Similarly, fresh batch of yatris at Baltal base camp left for the cave shrine early this morning as the weather was pleasant.
They are scheduled to reach the cave shrine in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the devotees who had a night halt near the cave shrine have also started their return journey to base camp this morning. (AGENCIES)
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