Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 27: As the 39 day long Amarnath yatra enters 33rd day the rush of pilgrims has come down considerably with 3,622 yatris performing darshan in holy cave situated in deep Himalays in South Kashmir district of Anantnag today.
With this the total number of pilgrims reaching the holy cave till date has touched 6,03,378 an official spokesman said. He said 5.99 lakh pilgrims have performed darshan in the holy cave till late last night.
This figure is 33,000 less than the last years record as 6.36 lakh pilgrims performed darshan in holy cave during 45 day long yatra in 2011 while 6.03 lakh pilgrims have performed darshan in 33days of yatra this year, the spokesman added.
He said 1,577 pilgrims left for holy cave from Nunwan –Pahalgam via traditional Chandanwari track while 2,523 pilgrims left via 16 kilometre shortest Baltal track.
The pilgrims who left via Baltal returned towards base camp after performing darshan while those from Chandanwari after a night halt at Sheshnag and Panchtarni respectively will perform darshan at holy cave tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, he added.
He said the pilgrims staying at various camps on Chandanwari track also started their onwards movement this morning.
The holy mace of Lord Shiva will also leave for cave shrine from historic Dashnami Akahra tomorrow morning under tight security arrangements. Led by Mahant Deepender Giri the Mahant of holy mace and accompanied by Sadhus and many devotees the Chhari Mubarak will perform darshan at Cave shrine on Sawan Purnima coinciding with Raksha Bandhan on August 2.
After performing pooja in the cave shrine for the whole day the holy mace will return to Panchtarni for the night stay on the same day. Enroute to holy cave it will perform religious rituals at various shrines including Durga Nag Temple Srinagar, Pampore temple, Awantipora, Shiv Temple, Bijebehara, Nagbal Anatnag, Teerath Raj Mattan and Shiv temple Pahalgam.
Amid tight security, a fresh batch of 575 pilgrims today left for 3,888-metre high Amarnath.
The pilgrims comprising 388 men, 87 women, 10 children and 90 sadhus left in a cavalcade of 20 vehicles from Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas at around 0500 hours for Amarnath, police said.
With today’s batch, as many as 91,123 pilgrims have left Jammu for their onward journey to Amarnath cave shrine.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
