Batch of 835 pilgrims leaves Jammu for cave shrine
STATE TIMES NEWS
SRINAGAR: Chhari-Mubarak — the saffron-robed holy mace of Lord Shiva — was Friday taken to the ancient Sharika-Bhawani Temple here for special prayers as part of the ongoing annual Amarnath Yatra.
In connection with annual Swami Amarnath Ji Yatra-2022, Chhari-Mubarak Swami Amarnath Ji was taken to Ancient Sharika-Bhawani Temple, Hari Parbat to pay obeisance to the Goddess on the occasion of Shravan Shukla Paksha Pratipada as per the age-old traditions, the custodian of the mace, Mahant Deependra Giri said.
Sizable number of Sadhus and devotees participated in the prayers that lasted for about 90 minutes, he said.
Goddess Sharika-Bhawani popularly known as Tripursundari’ amongst the mystics, is believed to be Isht Devi (Presiding Deity) of the Srinagar city who manifested herself in a figure of Shila (Holy Rock) at Hari-Parbat.
Giri said the Chhari-Sthapana ceremony shall be performed on Sunday at Shri Amareshwar Temple Akhara Building Budshah Chowk here, while the traditional Chhari-Pujan shall be performed on the occasion of Nag-Panchami on August 2.
The traditional Pujan and rituals will be performed on the auspicious occasion of Shravan-Purnima on August 12, concluding the annual yatra.
Meanwhile, a batch of 835 Amarnath pilgrims, the smallest so far this year, left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here this morning for the twin base camps in Kashmir, officials said.
The pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas in a convoy of 35 vehicles amid heavy security of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the morning, they said.
The officials said 306 pilgrims heading for Baltal were the first to leave the Jammu camp in 16 vehicles, followed by the second convoy of 19 vehicles carrying 529 pilgrims for Pahalgam.
The number of pilgrims visiting the cave shrine has fallen drastically in the last three days mostly due to bad weather conditions, they said. While 3,862 pilgrims left for the cave shrine from Jammu on Monday, 2,189, 1,147 and 1,602 devotees left for Amarnath from here on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. Till Thursday, a total of over 2.70 lakh pilgrims had offered their prayers at the cave shrine, housing the naturally formed Ice-Shivlingam, the officials said. With this, a total of 141,358 pilgrims have left from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp for the Valley since June 29, the day the first batch of pilgrims was flagged off by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha.
A total of 36 people, mostly pilgrims, have died during the ongoing Amarnath Yatra. Additionally, 15 pilgrims died in the flash floods at the Amarnath cave shrine on July 1.
