Routes for the Amarnath Yatra open up as weather clears

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Pakhi Hussain

04 July, 2011

The Amarnath route was blocked and devotees were forbidden to go any further due to landslides and bad weather. On Monday, the roads were opened to let devotees continue their journey, and as many as 97, 500 people have already paid their respects.

BOTH THE routes, from Batlal and Pahalgram, were blocked due to landslides, and on Monday, the Amarnath pilgrims were allowed to embark on their journey again. The narrow road between Railpathri and Baltal, which is preferred by the pilgrims was blocked due to a massive landslide. According to an official, “Both Baltal and Pahalgam routes have been re-opened for the pilgrims following improvement in weather conditions and clearance of the track.”

Around 97,500 people have already prayed in the 13500-feet high cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir Himalayas. The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) has however decided that they would not allow any unregistered devotee to continue on their travel, due to the erratic weather.

The naturally formed ice lingam holds a special place for the people of India as this is an annual visit that people of India does to pray to the Lord Shiva, the Hindu Deity. The Amarnath Shrine is one of the most important shrines of Hinduism and the ice Lingam of Shiva is actually a stalagmite that waxes from May to August, and people visit the place. It is known that this ice lingam waxes and wanes according tothe movement of the moon.

The Yatra is popular as devotees of Lord Shiva go there to offer their prayers. As many as 40,000 people go in the lapse of the Himalayan ranges. The Yatra is also known as Shravani Mela and the devotees are allowed to visit this beautiful shrine for 45 days.