PAHALGAM: The annual Amarnath pilgrimage concluded today with ‘pujan’ and ‘visarjan’ followed by traditional ‘kari pakouri’ bhandara on the bank of the river Lidder here today.
Chhari-Mubarak, the holy silver mace of Lord Shiva will return to its abode at Amreshwari temple Deshnami Khara in Srinagar later in the evening.
Though there was intermittent rains during the night, but the weather was dry since morning wiuth and Sun making occasional appearance.
The Chhari reached here yesterday from Panchtarani where it had a night halt after returning from the holy cave shrine at 13500 feet in south Kashmir Himalayas.
Mahant Depeendra Giri, custodian of the Chhari led the pujan here from 0915 hrs on the bank of the river Lidder. A large number of devotees, including sadhus and security personnel, participated in the pujan and visarjan ceremonies.
This was followed by kari-pakouri bhandara for the sadhus. Mahanat Giri said with this last ritual, the annual pilgrimage of Swami Amarnath culminated.
About 3.53 lakh pilgrims, including sadhus, women and children, from different parts of the country, had paid obeisance during the 59-day-long yatra which commenced from both shortest Baltal and traditional Nunwan Pahalgam tracks from July 2.
This was one lakh more than last year when the number of pilgrims was 2.41 lakh. As many as 41 pilgrims lost their lives during the pilgrimage, particularly due to health problems though there were some accidents also. Thirty-one pilgrims were injured during the yatra. (AGENCIES)
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