The annual Amarnath pilgrimage ended on Thursday with over 220,000 devotees paying obeisance at the 12,729-foot high cave-temple in the Himalayas in Kashmir.
The annual Amarnath pilgrimage ended on Thursday with over 220,000 devotees paying obeisance at the 12,729-foot high cave-temple in the Himalayas in Kashmir.
This is the lowest number of pilgrims to have visited Amarnath since 2004. The decrease in numbers is attributed to the ongoing unrest in the Valley and also because the naturally formed ice “lingam” of Lord Shiva at the cave-shrine completely melted in just the first 13 days of the yatra owing to rise in temperature. The 48-day yatra had started from both the traditional Pahalgam and the shorter Baltal routes on July 2. Last year, 352,000 pilgrims had visited Amarnath during the yatra period, whereas in 2011 and 2012 the figures stood at 6.21lakh and 6.30lakh, respectively. After 2012, it has seen decline with only 2.2lakh turning up this year.
Notwithstanding the number of worshippers who made it to Amarnath, the authorities heaved a sigh of relief as the pilgrimage which has been dogged by many controversies in the past passed off peacefully. But as many as 22 pilgrims and their local hosts including ponywallas and other service providers died of natural causes, mostly cardiac arrest, during this year’s pilgrimage, officials said.
A statement issued by the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) here said two of these persons died in road mishaps and the rest due to medical reasons. Governor N.N. Vohra, also chaiperson of the SASB, has asked to identify fresh measures which could possibly prevent loss of lives.
He expressed his gratitude to various departments of Jammu and Kashmir and other official agencies, including the security forces, for making the security infallible and for other arrangements for the annual event.
According to the SASB, the pilgrimage concluded with the arrival of Charri Mubarak or the holy mace of Lord Shiva at the cave-shrine on Shravan Purnima amid chanting of religious hymns in the spiritual ambience of the lower Himalayas. Mahant Dependra Giri, who carried the Charri to Amarnath from its abode in Srinagar, was joined by dozens of sadhus and other pilgrims at the rituals.
“The Shravan Purnima, which coincides with the Raksha Bandhan, witnessed serene religious fervour with the arrival of the holy mace of Lord Shiva at Amarnath after a night halt at Panjtarni, the third and final halting station enroute the cave-shrine,” a spokesperson of the SASB informed.
The SASB said that its’ CEO P.K. Tripathi and additional CEO Jitendra Kumar Singh visited the cave-shrine early Thursday morning and “prayed for sustained peace, harmony, progress and prosperity in the state”. After their return to Srinagar, they briefed the governor about the peaceful conclusion of the yatra. Normally the governor would also join the concluding puja at the cave-shrine but owing to unspecified reason, he skipped it this time. Unconfirmed reports said that because of certain health issues Mr. Vohra was advised not to fly to Amarnath.
He, however, expressed satisfaction over the “incident-free conduct of this year’s yatra barring a road accident which took place at Halmulla, Bijbehara in southern Anantnag district, and another near the access control gate, Chandanwari,” the SASB spokesman said. This also proved the news spread by some unscrupulous elements last month through social networking sites that two Amarnath pilgrims were stoned to death by protesters in the Valley as untrue.
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 pilgrimage area is “effectively cleaned up” in the next five days. He also asked for complete cleaning up of all camp sites and to prepare a camp and route-wise action plan for next year’s yatra, keeping in view the experiences gained during this year’s event, the spokesman said.
Mahant Giri will bring the holy mace back to its abode at Dashnami Akhara in Budshah Chowk locality of Srinagar on August 20 after offering thanksgiving prayer at Pahalgam.
