Lord Shiva’s Holy Mace Taken to Srinagar’s Historic Shankaracharya Temple For Puja
Mahant Deependra Giri, custodian of Chhari Mubarak, led a group of saffron-clad hermits to the historic temple, situated at 1,852.16 metres (6,077 feet), to perform rituals marking ‘Haryali-Amavasya’ (Shravan Amavasya), following age-old traditions
SRINAGAR: Days before a select group of sadhus is set to carry the Chhari Mubarak to the Amarnath cave-shrine for the final puja and darshan on Shravan Purnima (Raksha Bandhan) on August 9, the holy mace of Lord Shiva was on Thursday taken to the Shankaracharya temple, overlooking Srinagar’s Dal Lake, for special prayers.
Mahant Deependra Giri, custodian of Chhari Mubarak, led a group of saffron-clad hermits to the historic temple, situated at 1,852.16 metres (6,077 feet), to perform rituals marking ‘Haryali-Amavasya’ (Shravan Amavasya), following age-old traditions.
Mahant Giri said that collective prayers were offered for peace and prosperity in Jammu and Kashmir. On Friday, the Chhari Mubarak would be taken to Sharika Bhawani temple at the foothills of Hari Parbat in central Srinagar to pay homage to the goddess.
On Sunday, Chhari-Sthapana ritual will be held at Shri Amareshwar temple inside the Dashnami Akhara at Budshah Chowk here, followed by Chhari-Pujan on the occasion of ‘Nag-Panchami’ on Tuesday, Giri said.
Later saffron-robed mace will start its journey from Dashnami Akhara for Pahalgam resort. Puja will be performed to the Charri, which will be accompanied by a group of sadhus and pilgrims led by Mahant Giri, at Amreshwar temple and at various temples en route to Pahalgam, which serves as the traditional base-camp for the annual pilgrimage.
"At Pahalgam, Pujan and Yisarjan ceremonies shall be performed on the banks of river Lidder and thereafter traditional Kari Pakuri Bhandara shall be organised for sadhus,” he said. After performing rituals on the occasion of ‘Ekadashi-Dwadashi’ at Pahalgam, the Chhari will be taken to Chandanwari, the last motorable halting station on the traditional 45-km-long yatra route before starting the foot journey towards the cave-shrine, where final puja will be performed on August 9 on the occasion of Shravan Purnima. The Chhari will return to its abode Dashnami Akhara in Srinagar on August 11.
The 38-day annual Yatra to the Amarnath shrine, at 3,882 metres (13,000 feet) in the lower Himalayas of south Kashmir, began on July 3 from both the traditional Pahalgam and shorter Baltal routes, coinciding with Ashaad Chaturthi, and will conclude on Shravan Purnima.
As per official statistics, nearly 3.5 lakh devotees have paid obeisance and had darshan of natural Shiva Linga or ice-lingam of Lord Shiva at Amarnath cave-shrine, so far. On Thursday a fresh batch of 3,500 pilgrims left Jammu’s Bhagwati Nagar base camp for Nunwan (Pahalgam) and Baltal base camps in the Valley. Last year, over 5.10 lakh pilgrims had visited Amarnath.