The 39-day long Amarnath yatra formally commenced on Monday with “prathan darshan and pooja” rituals being held at the 12,729-foot-high cave-shrine in Kashmir Himalayas.
Jammu and Kashmir governor Narendra Nath Vohra, who is also the chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB), and other senior officials also attended the ceremony and paid obeisance at the Sanctum Sanctorum. Soon, several hundred devotees, including many women who had relocated to the base-camp down the cave-shrine after undertaking the arduous journeys though rugged hills, were allowed to have darshan of the Shiv lingam. They were quite happy to find it in full bloom. Mr Vohra said he prayed for “sustained peace, harmony, progress and prosperity in Jammu and Kashmir.” Also prayed with him were his spouse Ms Usha Vohra and Navin K. Choudhary, CEO of the SASB.
“Immediately thereafter, the yatra formally commenced when the gates were thrown open to the eagerly waiting pilgrims,” Mr Choudhary said. The governor also reviewed the arrangements made for the annual pilgrimage including at the cave-shrine camp. He issued on-the-spot instructions to the camp directors and all other functionaries involved in the management of the yatra for ensuring smooth conduct of the pilgrimage, particularly keeping in view the difficulties and stoppages caused by intermittent rains and bad weather and the still large accumulation of frozen snows in the cave area as well as at Sheshnag halting place and on over 12 kilometres of the tracks.
At Baltal base-camp, 96-km north of Srinagar, the governor was joined by J&K’s forest minister Mian Altaf Ahmad to flag off the two Baltal-Panjtarni helicopter services.