Pilgrimage to Amarnaath
Pilgrimage to Amarnaath , Despite heavy rains, a batch of over 5,600 pilgrims left Jammu on Thursday for the two base camps of the Amarnath cave shrine, Baltal and Pahalgam. Officials said that on Wednesday, more than 30,000 devotees offered prayers to the naturally formed Shivling made of ice. So far, more than one lakh devotees have visited Baba Bafarni. Officials said that the seventh batch of pilgrims included 4,487 men, 1,011 women, 10 children and 188 sadhus and sadhvis who left from Bhagwati Nagar base camp at 3.13 am in 219 vehicles under the protection of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Pilgrims traveled through the 14 km long Baltal route
He said that out of these, 3,668 pilgrims chose the traditional 48 km long Pahalgam route while 2,028 pilgrims chose the shorter but more difficult 14 km long Baltal route. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had flagged off the Yatra on June 28, after which a total of 37,522 pilgrims have left for the Yatra from the Jammu base camp so far.
The 52-day pilgrimage began on June 29 and will end on August 19. Last year, more than 4.5 lakh pilgrims had darshan of ice Shivling in the holy Amarnath cave situated at an altitude of 3,880 metres.