More than three lakh pilgrims have paid their obeisance at the holy Amarnath cave in the first 16 days of the yatra in the southern Kashmir Himalayas, surpassing last year's figures for the same period, officials reported on Monday.
An official overseeing yatra arrangements said 14,974 pilgrims visited the shrine on Sunday alone for a ‘darshan’ of the naturally formed ice Shivlingam.
This brings the total number of visitors this year to 309,977.
Among the 14,974 pilgrims on Sunday were 9,785 males, 3,435 females, 145 children, 230 Sadhus, one Sadhvi, and 1,378 security forces and service providers, the official said .
A new group of 4,875 pilgrims departed from the Bhagawati Nagar Yatri Niwas in Jammu towards the twin base camps of Nunwan Pahalgam in Anantnag district and Baltal Sonamarg in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.
They travelled under tight security in a convoy of 162 light and heavy vehicles. This batch included 3,464 men, 1,333 women, 14 children, 57 Sadhus, and seven Sadhvis.
“Of these, 1,918 pilgrims left for the Baltal base camp at 3:05 AM and 2,957 for the Pahalgam base camp at 3:50 AM.
“From there, they will continue their journey to the holy cave,” the official said, adding that all the pilgrims had reached their respective base camps by the evening. They will proceed towards the holy cave early tomorrow morning for darshan.
The official further mentioned that pilgrims who had reached the twin base camps of Baltal and Nunwan also proceeded towards the holy cave early in the morning.
Those who had night halts at Chandanwari, Sheshnag, and Panchtarni stations resumed their journey early in the morning.
In Jammu, thousands of pilgrims are arriving daily from various parts of the country to embark on the pilgrimage, which began on June 29.
The 52-day annual yatra to the holy shrine will conclude on Shravan Purnima, coinciding with the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan on August 19.
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