Amarnath yatra concludes, despite terror attack, 2.60 lakh pay obeisance

The annual 40-day Amarnath pilgrimage concluded Saturday on ‘Shravan Purnima’ as ‘Charri Mubarak’, the holy mace of Lord Shiva, reached the cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas.

Despite July 10 terror attack, in which eight pilgrims were killed and 19 others injured, 2.60 lakh pilgrims paid their obeisance at the Holy Cave Shrine during this year’s pilgrimage, which had commenced on June 29, from both the Baltal route in Ganderbal and the Pahalgam route in Anantnag.

The celebrations for Shravan Purnima, which coincides with Raksha Bandhan, were filled with religious fervour at the arrival of the holy mace of Lord Shiva in the cave shrine, situated at a height of 3,880 metres, after a night halt at Panjtarni, the third and final halt en route the shrine.

However, the number of pilgrims visiting the Cave Shrine has fallen drastically compared to the previous years. While last year only 2.20 lakh pilgrims could visit the Shrine due to unrest in the Valley, the number was 3.52 previous year. In 2014, more than 3.70 lakh pilgrims had paid obeisance to the naturally-formed ice-Shivlingam formed in the 3,880-metre high cave shrine while the number was was over 6.30 lakh in 2012.

Every year, thousands of devotees undertake the yatra between July and August to pay obeisance at the shrine dedicated to lord Shiva, located at an altitude of 11,998 feet in the Himalayas.

Officials said 41 natural deaths were recorded during the 40-days of yatra. “Most of the deaths were caused by myocardial infarction, commonly known as heart attack,” health officials said.

They added most of the pilgrims prefer to take the shorter Baltal route which involves a daylong 14-km trek through a steep uphill, leaving them little time to get used to the conditions when oxygen becomes sparse in the high altitudes.  Along the longer Pahalgam route, which is 43 km, devotees have to spend two nights on the road before reaching the cave which houses the Shiva lingam.

Meanwhile, after the completion of the yatra, the SASB officials have asked its staff to ensure complete cleaning up of all camp sites and to prepare a camp and route-wise action plan for next year’s pilgrimage.