Jammu- Over 3 lakh pilgrims have paid obeisance at the Amarnath cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas in the first 16 days of the yatra, surpassing the corresponding period last year, officials said on Monday.
An official said that 14,974 pilgrims visited the shrine for a ‘darshan’ of the naturally formed ice Shivlingam on Sunday. With this, the total number of pilgrims who have visited the shrine so far this year has climbed to 3,09,977.
Among the 14,974 pilgrims who performed darshan on Sunday were 9,785 males, 3,435 females, 145 children, 230 Sadhus, one Sadhvi, and 1,378 security forces and service providers, he said.
A fresh batch of 4,875 pilgrims left from Bhagawati Nagar Yatri Niwas in Jammu towards the twin base camps of Nunwan Pahalgam in Anantnag district and Baltal Sonamarg in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district under tight security arrangements in a cavalcade of 162 light and heavy vehicles. The batch included 3,464 men, 1,333 women, 14 children, 57 Sadhus, and 7 Sadhvis.
“Of these, 1,918 pilgrims left for the Baltal base camp at 3:05 AM and 2,957 for the Pahalgam base camp at 3:50 am, from where they will proceed on their further journey to the holy cave,” the official said, adding that all these pilgrims reached their respective base camps by this evening, wherefrom they will proceed towards the holy cave early tomorrow morning for darshan.
He further added that the pilgrims who had reached the twin base camps of Baltal and Nunwan also proceeded towards the holy cave early this morning, while those having night haltage at Chandanwari, Sheshnag, and Panchtarni halting stations also started their onward journey early this morning.
Here in Jammu, thousands of pilgrims are arriving daily from different parts of the country to embark on the holy pilgrimage, which started on June 29. The 52-day annual yatra to the holy shrine will culminate on Shravan Purnima, coinciding with the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan, which falls on August 19.
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