On Monday, over 1,800 pilgrims departed from a base camp in Jammu for the Amarnath cave shrine, situated 3,880 meters high in the south Kashmir Himalayas. The group, consisting of 1,832 pilgrims, left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp at 3:22 a.m. in a convoy of 62 vehicles, escorted by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The contingent included 1,358 men, 363 women, two children, and 109 sadhus and sadhvis.
So far, more than 4.55 lakh pilgrims have visited the naturally-formed ice lingam at the Amarnath cave shrine, surpassing last year’s figure of over 4.5 lakh. Among the current batch, 1,263 pilgrims will travel to Pahalgam to follow the traditional 48-km route, while 569 will take the shorter but steeper 14-km Baltal route.
Since the first batch was flagged off by Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on June 28, a total of 1,38,816 pilgrims have begun the annual yatra from Jammu. The 52-day pilgrimage, which officially started on June 29 from the Baltal and Pahalgam base camps in Kashmir, is set to conclude on August 19.
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