Chhari Mubarak to leave on August 8

Chhari Mubarak to leave for holy cave on August 8

* Yatra likely to touch 6 lakh today

The holy mace (Chhari Mubarak) of Shri Amarnath Ji will be taken from Dashnami Akhara, Srinagar to holy cave shrine of Shri Amarnath Ji by Mahant Depender Giri Ji Mahraj on August 8 morning.

Informing this to Excelsior today Mahant Ji said that on its way to holy cave the Chhari poojan will be held at all the haltage places were the Chhari Mubarak prior to onset of militancy in the Valley used to stay for the night.

He said enroute to holy cave from Dashnami Akhara, Chhari Poojan will be held at Durga Nag temple, Pampore, Awantipora, Bijbehara, Nagbal Anantnag, Mattan, (Martand), Ganeshpora, Aishmuqam respectively and it will reach late in the evening to Pahalgam.

He said the holy mace after two days stay at Pahalgam i.e on August 8 and 9 will leave for Chandanwari next day. It will have a night halt at Chandanwari on August 10, Sheshnag on August 11 and Panjtarni on August 12. At all these places the Chhari Poojan will be performed in the traditional way, he added.

He said the holy mace will leave for darshan to cave shrine from Panjtarni on Shrawan Purnima falling on August 13 and after the performance of darshan it will return from the traditional route to Pahalgam and later to Dashnami Akhara Srinagar.

With this the 46 day-long holy Amarnath pilgrimage which started on June 29 will culminate. Besides Mahant Deepender Giri the Chhari Mubarak will be accompanied by a large number of Sadhus and devotees.

Prior to leaving for holy cave on August 8 the holy mace will be taken to historical Shankaracharya temple from Dashnami Akhara, Srinagar by Mahant Ji on Shrawan Amavasiya falling on July 30 for the traditional Chhari Poojan. It will return back to Dashnami Akhara in the evening.

Next day on July 31the holy mace will be taken to Sharika Bhawani temple Parbat in Srinagar for the Chhari poojan while on August 2 the Chhari Sthapana will be performed at Dashnami Akhara by Mahant Ji and other Sants.

To keep the centuries old tradition alive later on Naag Panchmi falling on August 4, the Chhari Poojan will again be performed at Dashnami Akhara Srinagar by the Mahant Ji and Sants.

Meanwhile, on the 29th day of yatra today 5,897 pilgrims left for holy cave from base camps of Nunwan and Baltal today. According to a Yatra Officer, 3,142 pilgrims left via shortest Baltal track while 2,755 left via traditional Nunwan Chandanwari route.

He said besides hundreds of pilgrims who had stayed for night at Sheshnag and Panjtarni also left for their onwards sojourn this morning.

He said 8,000 pilgrims performed their obeisance in holy cave till late tonight, while 5, 80, 625 pilgrims had performed darshan in holy cave till late last night. With this total number of pilgrims visiting the holy cave in last 29 days has touched 5, 88, 625. The yatra will likely touch 6 lakh mark tomorrow and this will be the highest number of pilgrims ever visiting the holy cave in a single year for darshan, he added.

All the pilgrims are in an upbeat mood and the yatra is progressing smoothly, he said.

Besides 28th batch of 911 pilgrims left for the holy cave under the tight security arrangements from Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas Jammu this morning.

Comprising 472 males, 132 females, 10 children and 297 Sadhus, these pilgrims left in a cavalcade of 27 vehicles. They had reached to Nunwan and Baltal base camps in Anantnag and Ganderbal districts respectively till last reports came in where from they will leave for cave shrine at the height of 13500 feet in deep Himalayas next morning.

Meanwhile, at a meeting held here today with R K Goyal, Chief Executive Officer of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, (SASB) Preet Pal Singh, Additional CEO, and other concerned officers, N N Vohra, Governor, reviewed various aspects of the ongoing Shri Amarnathji Yatra.

The Governor, who is the Chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, reiterated his earlier directions about the effective maintenance of sanitation and cleanliness at all the camps in the yatra area and, besides, cleanliness along both the yatra routes. The CEO informed that a good number of workers are currently engaged for carrying out cleaning on round the clock basis and, besides, all the camp directors have been asked to launch a week long special cleanliness drive in their respective camps and ensure the appropriate disposal of all bio-degradable and non-bio-degradable wastes. The Governor asked the CEO to ensure that all the camps are cleared of all types of solid wastes by 20th August i.e. within a week of the conclusion of the Yatra. The Governor observed that he shall be personally visiting all the camps in the coming days to view the level of cleanliness.

Mr Goyal informed the Governor that the officials of the Shrine Board, various State Government Departments, Army, Para-military Forces and the State Police have been performing their duties in close coordination, for the smooth conduct of the pilgrimage. He added that the Shrine Board would be undertaking a Post-Yatra Review involving senior officials of each of the concerned agencies soon after the conclusion of the Yatra with a view to eliciting their views and suggestions for bringing about progressive improvements in the future Yatras.