Over 3.65 lakh perform Amarnath Yatra in 20 days

 July 19 (IANS) Over 3.65 lakh pilgrims have so far performed the annual Amarnath Yatra as another batch of 4,821 Yatris left for Kashmir on Friday. Since it started on June 29, a total of 3.65 lakh Yatris had ‘darshan’ inside the holy cave shrine so far. Over 14,000 pilgrims arriving both from Baltal and Pahalgam routes had ‘darshan’ on Thursday, officials said. “Another batch of 4821 Yatris left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas in Jammu in two escorted convoys for the Valley today. Of these, 1731 pilgrims left at 3.13 a.m. in an escorted convoy of 54 vehicles for the North Kashmir Baltal base camp while 3,090 Yatris left in another escorted convoy of 96 vehicles at 4 a.m. for the South Kashmir Nunwan (Pahalgam) base camp. Both convoys are expected to reach the Valley by noon today for onward journey to the two-phase camps,” officials said. The cave shrine houses an ice stalagmite structure that wanes and waxes with the phases of the moon. Devotees believe that this ice stalagmite structure symbolises the mythical powers of Lord Shiva. The cave is situated at an altitude of 3,888 metres above sea level in the Kashmir Himalayas. Devotees approach the cave shrine either from the traditional South Kashmir Pahalgam route or the North Kashmir Baltal route. The Pahalgam-Cave shrine axis is 48 km long and it takes Yatris 4-5 days to reach the shrine. The Baltal-Cave shrine axis is 14 km long and it takes one day for the pilgrims to have ‘darshan’ and return to the base camp. This year’s Yatra will conclude after 52 days on August 29 coinciding with Shravan Purnima and Raksha Bandhan festivals. --IANS sq/dpb