Over 65,000 pay obeisance at Amarnath shrine

SRINAGAR:More than 65,000 pilgrims had darshan of the self-made ice-Shivlingam in the holy Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas during the first five days of 59-day-long yatra, which commenced from July 2.
The pilgrimage is going on smoothly from both shortest Baltal and traditional Pahalgam tracks, a Yatra Control Room (YCR) official told.
He said fresh batches of pilgrims, including women, sadhus and children, left Baltal and Pahalgam for the cave shrine early this morning.
The highest number of 20,822 yatris paid obeisance and have darshshan of the Ice-Shivlingam yesterday. With this, a total of 65,495 yatris had darshan of the Ice-Shivlingam since the commencement of the yatra.
The pilgrims will have to cover the 14-km-long track on foot before reaching the cave today. Meanwhile, pilgrims, who had night halt at the cave shrine after having darshan yesterday, have also started their return journey through this shortest route.
Similarly, a fresh batch of yatris left for Chandandwari, the last motorable halting station on traditional 45-km-long track early this morning. Though some of the pilgrims will stay at Chandanwari, others will start their foot journey towards the next halting station on the track, which is still under snow at several places. (AGENCIES)