Srinagar: Over 10,000 pilgrims had ‘darshan’ inside the holy cave on the 22nd day of Amarnath Yatra as another batch of 3691 Yatris left Jammu for the Valley on Sunday. Officials said, :On the 22nd day of the Yatra on Saturday, 10,544 Yatris had darshan inside the holy cave while another batch of 3,691 pilgrims left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas in Jammu in an escorted convoy for the Valley.
“Of these 3691 pilgrims, 2700 are male, 874 female, 23 children, 64 Sadhus, 28 Sadhvis and two transgenders.
“Since its beginning on July 1, a total of 3,17,898 pilgrims have performed the Yatra this year.”
Two Yatris belonging to Rajasthan died on Saturday of natural causes taking the number of pilgrims killed during the Yatra so far to 36, officials said.
Yatris approach the Himalayan cave shrine either from the traditional south Kashmir Pahalgam route which involves an uphill trek of 43 kilometres from Pahalgam base camp or from the north Kashmir Baltal base camp which involves 13 Km uphill trek.
Those using the traditional Pahalgam route take 3-4 days to reach the cave shrine while those using the Baltal route return to the base camp the same day after having darshan inside the cave shrine situated 3888 metres above the sea-level.
Helicopter services are also available for Yatris on both routes.
The cave shrine houses an ice stalagmite structure that devotees believe symbolises mythical powers of Lord Shiva.
The ice stalagmite structure wanes and waxes with the phases of the moon.
This year’s 62-day long Amarnath Yatra started on July 1 and will end on August 31 coinciding with the Shravan Purnima festival.
To protect the pilgrims from high altitude sickness, authorities have banned all junk food at the free community kitchens called the ‘Langars’ that have been set up along both the routes of the Yatra.
The banned items include all bottled drinks, halwai items, fried foods and tobacco based products.
–IANS