Dear,.........,
Namaskar. I will continue my story about Amarnath Cave and the yatra today. The procession of the sadhus carrying the holy mace starts from the centre of the Srinagar city from the temple located at Lal Chowk. The sadhus do not walk but run. They have four or five overnight stops to reach Pahalgam from Srinagar. The distance between the two places is around 96 Kms. Rest of the public desiring to make the pilgrimage to Amarnath cave reach Pahalgam directly by car or bus. It takes four days to reach the cave. Before I describe the journey, it would be worthwhile to apprise you of the history behind the yatra.
It is widely known that a shepherd Buta Malik from Aishmuqam (a small town on the way to Pahalgam - about 20 Kms short of Pahalgam) was grazing his cattle on the meadows near the cave. It would be usual for the shepherds to take a flock of sheep high into the mountain ranges during summer months. They would camp there for the complete season and return just before the first snowfall around last week of August. On that particular day in the year 1850, a sadhu approached him while he was tending his sheep on the meadow. The sadhu is reported to have given him a bag full of coal. He was asked to take it home. When he reached home, he opened the bag and he was surprised to see the coal transformed into gold coins. He went back to the mountain range to find out the sadhu and thank him for making him rich. He reached the meadow and started going in the direction which the sadhu had taken after their first meeting. He came across the cave and saw a sadhu there. The sadhu told him to arrange a pilgrimage every year. He returned home and broke the story to the administration. Next year he lead the pilgrims to the cave. There they did not find a sadhu but an ice Lingam inside the cave. Since then there has been a yatra every year except two or three times when the weather turned so bad that most yatris perished on the way and the rest turned back.
Every year the total donations received at the cave would get equally divided into three equal parts. One part would be given to the Malik family, the second one to the pandits of Mattan (a small town on way from Anantnag to Pahalgam) and the third one to the Mahant family in whose custody the Silver mace would be stored all year in the temple in Srinagar. (In 2008 a trust board was made for the shrine. One time payment was offered to all the three parties. Two parties took it while the third party - Malik family refused the one time payment of Rs. 1.5 Crore. Since then the trust maintains and improves the facilities for the pilgrims with the donation money.)
Now I will start with details of the yatra starting from Pahalgam. On the first day, the yatra walks from Pahalgam early in the morning for the next camping overnight halt at Chandanwari a total distance of about 16 Kms. When I made the trip in 1960's the administration was in the process of widening and levelling the road to enable jeepable road to Chandanwari. Most pilgrims walk the distance while some take horses and yet some more take what is called a dandi or palki. (A dandi is a chair in which the pilgrim sits. This chair had two poles nailed under the seat. Four persons support the poles on their shoulders and then move along the road. Two additional persons are available to carry the palki and relieve the others by rotation.) There are also pack ponies that carry loads like tents, clothing, essentials, utensils and food items. While we are on this road, water gushes down in the form of a stream from some mountain lake all along on the right side. Every few kilometers we would find langars (Free Kitchens) where free food would be provided to the pilgrims. These langars would be managed by some philanthropists from rest of the country. It would take about an four to five hours for an average young healthy to complete the journey to reach Chandanwari. We would immediately start erecting the tent. Some of us would set up a temporary kitchen and start preparing meals. There were also government owned tin sheds where some pilgrims without a tent would be able to stay overnight. Then some of the camping agencies also would keep tents erected at the spot and rent them out on daily basis. There were also some makeshift dhabas where some pilgrims would take their meals from. As long as it is dry weather, it is manageable and less difficult than if it rains. We would be so tired at the end of the day that there would be no interest in looking around and appreciate the beauty of nature. Since we were on a mission to record for the radio station, we found several group of Bhajan parties busy singing in praise of Bhagwaan Shiva as soon as it started getting dark. We recorded some portions of the programmes.
Bye today. I will move my narration description from Chandanwari tomorrow.
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