Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Aug 11: The 44 -day long Shri Amarnath Ji yatra entered into last leg with Silver Mace of Lord Shiva reaching Panchtarni this morning -the last halting place to cave shrine from Sheshnag.
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The Holy Mace led by its sole custodian, Mahant Deependra Giri Ji Maharaj and a group of Sadhus left Sheshnag early this morning for the next sojourn under tight security measures via 14800 feet Mahagunas Top.
The Holy Mace will have a night halt at Panchtarni and leave for cave shrine early tomorrow morning for darshan of Ice Lingam and also perform the day -long Puja and religious rituals there in a traditional form.
After reaching Panchtarni, the evening Puja was held there by Mahant Ji and the Sadhus accompanying the Holy Mace. Besides, a large number of jawans of security forces also joined the Puja and paid obeisance to Holy Mace. On the occasion, Mahant Ji and Sadhus prayed for peace and prosperity of people of J&K and country as a whole.
While talking to this reporter regarding the confusion created about Shravan Purnima and darshan at holy cave, Mahant Ji said that Purnima started today at around 10.12 am and will last till 7-05 am tomorrow. Since Shravan Purnima with rising Sun shall be tomorrow so Pujan at holy cave will also be performed then.
He said the prayers for peace and prosperity of mankind will be held at holy cave by Sadhus tomorrow. Besides, the special prayers will be held for the peace of the departed souls who lost their lives in flash floods at Lower Cave on July 8 and those who died due to natural ailments during ongoing pilgrimage. He complimented the district administration Anantnag, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) and security forces for rendering all cooperation to Sadhus and yatris during the ongoing pilgrimage.
The Holy Mace will return for Panchtarni tomorrow evening and after night stay there it will leave for Pahalgam next day. At Pahalgam the relics will be immersed in river Lidder as per age -old tradition and later the Sadhus and other devotees accompanying the Holy Mace will be served prashad in the form of Kaddi -Pakoda at the bank of river Lidder before the return of Holy Mace to its abode Dashnami Akhara, Srinagar where from it started its journey to cave shrine on August 7.
It may be recalled that the annual yatra of Shri Amarnath Ji started on June 30 this year after a gap of two years due to COVID pandemic. The first batch of pilgrims was flagged off by Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha who is also chairman of SASB from Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas Jammu on June 29. The 44 -day long yatra will culminate tomorrow after the Holy Mace performs darshan in the cave shrine situated at an altitude of 3880 meters in snow bound Himalayas of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
Near three lakh pilgrims performed darshan in the holy cave during this year’s pilgrimage. However, 38 pilgrims including two porters and one security forces jawan lost their lives due to various ailments during the yatra this year while 15 more pilgrims died in cloudburst which triggered flash floods near Lower Cave on July 8 this year.
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