Holy Cave of Amarnath

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The Holy Cave of Amarnath -- Amarnath Yatra

By Meera S. Sashital

Source: Free Press Journal

 

The Holy Amarnath Yatra or pilgrimage began on 8th July from Jammu

and will end on 10th August on shravan purnima day at the Holy

Amarnath Cave. For the yatra, advance registration has to be done by

the yatris with the J & K Govt. About 1000 yatris are released daily

for the 14 km trek from Baltal near Sonamarg to the Holy Cave as

against over 3500 yatris from the Nunwan base camp near Pahalgam,

which has been made the base camp this time due to security reasons,

instead of Pahalgam itself. The huge procession starts from Srinagar

on the fifth of the bright half of shravan.

 

The Holy Cave of Amarnath is situated at a height of 13,000 feet

above sea level, about 86 miles north east of Srinagar. It is the

famous cave where Lord Siva has always been worshipped in the form of

linga-shaped ice block. The ice block is formed by the drops of water

dripping from the top of the cave. Tradition says in every lunar

month from the first of the bright half, the ice block starts forming

into a siva-linga and on the full moon day of each lunar month it

forms itself into a huge linga. From the first day of the dark half

of each month, the linga of ice starts decreasing and on the Amavasya

of the new moon day it vanishes.

 

The Amarnath Cave is said to be 150 feet high and 90 ft. broad and

its walls are made of gypsum. Two gaps in the northern wall of the

cave let in drops of water which freezes. Of the two gaps, one is

bigger and below it forms the ice linga. On the left of this main

linga, there is another formation called Ganesh and on the right,

Parvati and Bhairva. As per the descriptions, the cave faces south

and the rays of the sun do not fall directly on the images of

Amarnath. The myth that the snow linga is formed every lunar month

during the bright half and melts away in the dark half and it being a

shrine of great sanctity is mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbari of Abdul

Fazal.

 

Inside the cave of Amarnath, there is another small cave on the left

of the image from which a chalk-like substance is dug out. This

substance is given to the pilgrims as vibhuti of Amarnath by the

Mahomedans of the Batkut village. On the bed of the stream called

Amarganga which is on the western side of the cave, there are huge

quantities of this white substance which pilgrims apply on their

bodies to protect themselves from severe cold after they have had

their bath . This is called amar vibhuti . Mahomedans of the Batkut

village have 'rights' over this as they do over one-third share of

the offerings made in Amarnath.These rights have been given to the

locals as they have, for many years, been clearing the difficult

passage and keeping the holy cave accessible.