Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, July 22: Over 2.85 lakh pilgrims paid obeisance in the holy cave of Swami Amarnath Ji during last 22 days of darshan thereby surpassing the last year’s record of 2,85,006 yatris, who had performed darshan at cave shrine during 60 days of yatra.
In the last 22 days, 2,85, 381 yatris performed the darshan of naturally formed Ice Lingam in holy cave of Swami Amarnath Ji situated at an height of 3880 meters in deep Himalayas in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district thereby surpassing the last year’s 60 days record of 2,85,006, officials said.
On the 22nd day of the ongoing yatra, 13,377 pilgrims paid obeisance at the holy cave taking the total number of pilgrims performing darshan since the 46 day long yatra started on July 1 this year to 2,85,381, officials said.
The yatra is proceeding smoothly from shortest Baltal and traditional Chandanwari tracks. The yatris who performed darshan today in the holy cave have also started their return journey towards the twin base camps, officials said.
They said that weather in the holy cave area was pleasant throughout the day. The unabated rush of pilgrims continued as daily thousands of pilgrims reports at base camps of Nunwan -Pahalgam in South Kashmir district of Anantnag and Baltal-Sonamarg in Central Kashmir district of Ganderbal.
Meanwhile, one critically sick yatri, Vijay Rathore R/o Rajkot Gujarat from Sheshnag camp and one CRPF official Phool Kanwar, ASI from Brarimarg were evacuated by helicopter today on the directions of Governor, Satya Pal Malik. In all 14 critically sick Yatris have been air evacuated by the Shrine Board for immediate specialized treatment, officials said.
A fresh batch of 3,178 pilgrims amid chanting of “Bum Bum Bholey” left the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas here for twin base camps of Nunwan-Pahalgam and Baltal-Sonamarg in a cavalcade of 128 vehicles under tight security arrangements early this morning.
The reports reaching here said that all these yatris have reached their respective base camps by the evening where from they will leave for their onwards sojourn early tomorrow morning.
Hundreds of pilgrims drawn from different parts of the country are daily reaching here to leave for the Swami Amaranth Ji yatra. Over 2,000 pilgrims have managed to reach the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas by late this evening to leave for darshan early tomorrow morning.
The rush of pilgrims was also seen in front of registration counters in the city daily who are waiting in queues from early in the morning to get themselves enrolled for darshan of “Bholey Baba”.
Reports reaching here said that 1606 pilgrims crossed the gateway of Lakhanpur towards Jammu in 115 vehicles during last 24 hours while hundreds of more Amarnath bound pilgrims have reached here during last 24 hours via train service.
The 46 day -long yatra of Swami Amarnath Ji will culminate on Hindu festival of Sawan Purnima coinciding with Raksha Bandan on August 15, the day on which holy mace of Lord Shiva led by its custodian Mahant Deependra Giri Ji will reach the cave shrine for darshan form its abode Dashnami Akhara in Srinagar.
The holy mace will leave for darshan from Srinagar on Nag Panchmi falling on August 5. Before leaving for its final sojourn, the holy mace will be taken by Mahant Ji and other Sadus to Shankaracharya temple and Hari Parbhat temple in Srinagar for darshan and pujan in a traditional way.
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