Srinagar, Aug 22 (IANS) Lord Shiva’s holy mace called the ‘Chhari Mubarak’ started its journey from the Dashnami Akhara temple in Srinagar towards the Amarnath cave shrine on Saturday. The custodian of the Chhari Mubarak, Swami Deependra Giri led the procession of Sadhus carrying the Chhari Mubarak to South Kashmir's Pahalgam town.
The departure of the Chhari Mubarak from its seat at the Dashnami Akhara temple marks the final leg of the annual Amarnath Yatra. It will halt at designated temples en route, including in Bijbehara and Mattan before arriving in Pahalgam.
After Puja at the traditional stopovers in Bijbehara and the Martand Sun temple in Mattan, the Chhari Mubarak will reach the Gourishankar Temple in Pahalgam today.
From Pahalgam, the Chhari Mubarak will follow the traditional halting stations like Chandanwari, Sheshnag, and Panchtarni during its mountain track and will finally reach the Holy Cave shrine on August 28 for final prayers on Shravan Purnima.
Coinciding with Shravan Purnima and Raksha Bandhan festivals, this year’s Shri Amarnath Yatri will conclude after 57 days on August 28.
More than 4.80 lakh Yatris had Darshan this year at the holy cave shrine, situated 3880 metres above the sea level in the Himalayas.
The cave shrine houses an ice stalagmite structure that wanes and waxes with the phases of the moon. Devotees believe the ice stalagmite structure symbolises mythical powers of Lord Shiva.
Heavy deployment of J&K police and the CAPFs was made for the security of the Amarnath Yatra this year. Thanks to the hawk-eyed surveillance and management, the Yatra has been incident free this year except for the natural death of some pilgrims due to sickness related to high altitude and insufficient oxygen.
Officials said during the Amarnath Yatra this year, 42 pilgrims died due to natural causes, such as cardiac arrest and high-altitude sickness.
Except for the movement of Chhari Mubarak procession, no pilgrims are allowed to undertake the Yatra because of track maintenance following highly inclement weather on both the North Kashmir's Baltal base camp route and South Kashmir's Pahalgam base camp route.
--IANS
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