Chhari Pooja Performed

Chhari poojan performed with traditional fervour Sharp decline in yatra rush, 3000 perform darshan

The annual pilgrimage to the holy Amarnath cave shrine in South Kashmir was progressing smoothly, though the number of yatris has come down sharply.

According to a Yatra Officer the number of pilgrims visiting the shrine has come down sharply compared to first one month, when an average of more than 20,000 yatris were having darshan of the ice-Shivlingam daily.

He said 1631 pilgrims left for holy cave situated at a height of 13500 feet in deep Himalayas in South Kashmir district of Anantnag from twin base camps of Baltal and Nunwan-Pahalgam this morning.

He said out of the 870 pilgrims, including sadhus, women and children left from shortest Baltal track for cave shrine while 961 pilgrims left via traditional Nunwan Chandanwari track for the holy cave.

This was the lowest number of pilgrims, since the commencement of the 46-day pilgrimage from June 29, who left for the cave today, he added.

He said besides the pilgrims who had a night halt at Sheshnag and Panjtarni also left for their next sojourn today.

He said 3000 pilgrims performed darshan in holy cave and with this the total number of yatris paying obeisance in the cave shrine touched 6,23, 603. Out of them 6,15,000 pilgrims have returned to their home states so far, the Yatra Officer added.

He said more than 6.20 lakh pilgrims have paid obeisance to the Ice-Shivlingam in the cave shrine till late last night. Majority of them have since returned to their homes, he added.

About 86 pilgrims, besides two local porters, had died during the period due to cardiac arrest and other ailments.

The 36th batch of 507 pilgrims today left for the Amarnath yatra from here amid tight security, police said.

As many as 321 men, 77 women, 10 children and 99 sadhus left from the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas here around 0500 hours this morning in a cavalcade of 16 vehicles for cave shrine.

With today’s batch, as many as 77,666 pilgrims have left Jammu in 36th batches for their onward journey to the cave shrine.

All these pilgrims had reached the Baltal and Nunwan-Pahalgam base camps till last reports came in wherefrom they will leave for holy cave early morning tomorrow.

In connection with Chhari-Mubarak Swami Amarnathji Yatra, Chhari-Pujan was performed today at Shri Amareshwar Temple, Akhara Building, Budshah Chowk, Srinagar chanting Vedic hymns by Mahant Deependra Giri ji along with Sadhus who have come from across the country and in the presence of large number of devotees. As described in scriptures, this is an important ritual to be performed traditionally on 'Nag-Panchami' (Shravan Shukla Paksha Panchmi) before leaving for the main course of pilgrimage.

Before eruption of militancy, sadhus on foot carrying Chhari-Mubarak used to start their journey for holy shrine of Swami Amarnathji immediately after this Pujan. Having night halts at Pampore, Bijbehara, Martand, Aishmuquam, Pahalgam, Chandanwari, Sheshnag, Panchtarani Chhari-Mubarak would reach holy have of Swami Amarnath ji on 'Shravan-Purnima' the 'Raksha-Bandhan' day.

Chhari-Mubarak will leave on August 8 from Dashnami Akhara, Srinagar to reach holy shrine of Amarnathji on 'Shravan-Purnima' that falls on August 13 this year.

'The True Trust' founded by Mahant Deependra Giri ji has finalized all the arrangements for sadhus and needy from the general public coming from across the country to join Chhari-Mubarak Swami Amarnath Ji yatra for their food, accommodation and transportation during the pilgrimage.