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Amarnath cave is a famous shrine in Hinduism located in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is dedicated to Shiva. The cave is situated at an altitude of 3,888 m (12,756 ft),about 141 km (88 mi) from Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir and reached through Pahalgam town. The shrine forms an important part of Hinduism,and is considered to be one of the holiest shrines in Hinduism.The cave is surrounded by snowy mountains. The cave itself is covered with snow most time of the year except for a short period of time in summer when it is open for pilgrims. An annual pilgrimage is made to the Amarnath cave by lakhs (hundreds of thousands) of Hindu devotees on challenging mountainous terrain to see an ice stalagmite formed inside the cave.

The Lingam 

Ice Lingam at Amarnath Cave
Inside the 40 m (130 ft) high Amarnath cave, Lord Shiva gets formed due to freezing of water drops that fall from the roof of the cave on to the floor and grows up vertically from the cave floor.It is considered to be a Shiva Linga by devout Hindus. He waxes during May to August, as snow melts in the Himalayas above the cave and the resultant water seeps into the rocks that form the cave and gradually wanes thereafter.As per the religious beliefs, it has been claimed that the lingam grows and shrinks with the phases of the moon reaching its height during the summer festival, although there is no scientific evidence for this belief
According to a Hindu legend, this is the cave where Shiva explained the secret of life and eternity to his divine consort, Parvati. Two other ice formations represent Parvati and Shiva's son, Ganesha.

Do not dwell in the past we are told.Should we forget how close to the main stream culture ,nay the fountain head of our philosphy the ancient Kashmir was? The Pandits and the others who were converted population of kashmir today were the the leaders in the Vedic world thoughts.

1.Raja tarangini by kalhana-a poet 1129-1150 AD writes in his chronicle of Kingsof kashmir. about Amarnath Yatra as ocean of milk the lake of Susra vasa -the sesh naga lake after chandan wadi -wajhwan..King Vibhishanas and his daughters story ,river Vitasta.

2.The story of kashmir Kings begin with Gonanda I friend of jarasandha in Krishna s' times!!till  Prajyabhatta in 16th century when Akbar occupied the gentle Kashmiris.Lord Krishna himself rejected to be king of kashmir after victory and annointed the wife of the defeated Damodra King pregnant at that time as the ruler of kashmir.He said ''the land of Kashmir is Incarnate of parvati and the ruler is the ansha a part of Shiva."'

3,The poet Kalhana had noted that ''there is not a inch of this land which does not have temple or is not sacred''..
Where does that leave the secularism of the great Akbar and his army who must have destroyed all the butts and the tyemple of these gentle idol worshippers and converted them .What history you want Hindus to forget? all that shows the invaders in poor light must be ignored?? The minoritysm has come to this?

4.There was the Sharda peeth of kashmir on the hill .he used to lead the Chadi the gold mace to the Amarnath caves since ages.now we have to start from jammu and get shot and blasted by our own descendents converted to a foriegn faith that too intolerant to such an extent..to others.

5.Pampur,Brij bihara,gautama, Martand sun temple,Anant nag,Shesh naag are the enroute divine places as you go to Amarnath caves .Then we too celebrated the non idol form of the Shiva..but little did we know that non idol worshippers will wreck havoc in there way of lives..

 6.As the locals of Batkut protected and served the Amarnath shrine even after they were converted even today they get the share 1/3rd to maintain the shrine.and the pilgrims which they do.

7.In Ain A Akbari Abul Fazl p-360 II..he pays tribute to the faith of the hindus and this shrine and describes how people took trouble to climb up this most sacrosanct place.

8.Kashmir shaivism is called trika matta a agama shshtra.KM mUnshi in his book -Immortal India has given some details of the shiava literature produced then from Kashmir.They believed that Moksha is the complete realisation of the soul -that is Shiva..a completely non idolic Allah like entity that should have impressed a true Moslem Islamic theologician. .But then Akbar and his army were not led by them.Still the Original Kashmiris are blinded by these Mullahs about how the two great religious philosphies met here and one of them over pwered the other by sheer sword andpower..without fully understanding how universally one the Shiva tatwa in divine form and the Holy Allah visioned by the HM Holy prophet were..
still the kashmir bleeds and pain is felt by the whole nation..-majority of them..Now Minority rules the policies and the vast mahority are to be taken for granted..however broad minded they become..
I Hope the Shiva tatwa grants peace to the people of kashmir on both sides of the border and they know how universal they can become even as they continue to pray to thier present Empathic Divine & Universal God..give him whatever name- Hinduism says..all paths lead to thee..

History

• Exact period in not known when AmarnathYatra took start. According to Puran, Bhrigu Rishi visited Amarnath Cave. In the Maurya dynesty, Kashmir came under Ashoka’s rule and yatra was done by sages/ sadhus/ sanyasi and shiv-bhakts. Kalhan has written in his ‘Rajtarangini’ (i.e. History of Kashmir) in 11th century that AmarnathYatra was in use for one thousand years before Christ. But yatra remained closed time to time for several hundred and thousand years due to disturbance caused by outside invaders in Kashmir in medieval age. Discontinuation of yatra also occurred due to natural calamity many times. For instance, one recent occurrence happened in 1928 when river of panchtarani suddenly overflooded at night when pilgrims were sleeping in tents near river bed. Nearly two thousand people swept away. Since then no body looked towards for twenty years.

• There are many myths and legends about Kashmir and Amarnath Yatra. In primitive age Kashmir was a big lake which was ruled by King Nagraj. With due permission of his Guru Kashyap Rishi, he invited some human being. With human being some demons also came and begane to live. Later on demons began to vex men as well as King Nagraj. Now Nagraj went to his Guru and told his problem. Rishi prayed God Shankar WHO gave him a “silver stick” and directed them to take it to his abode at that holy cave where HE will appear and bless HIS devotees. “Silver Stick” i.e., ‘Chhadi’ is symbol of safety and authority. Since then yatra is done by a monk (Mahant/ Hindu prist) with this “Chhadi Mubarak”. A large number of hermits/ anchorites and devotees accompany this monk. The group reaches the holy cave on full moon day of Sawan (Which falls in August) every year and perform puja archana and religious rituals.

• Most common and popular legend about this holy cave is related to Shiv-Parvati. The divine consort of Shivaji is Parbati who requested Shivaji to tell her about creation of universe and secret of death and rebirth. Then Shivaji started searching a very lonely place where “Amarkatha” would be narrated before Parbati. He saw the cave with his divine eyes and moved towards it with Maa Parbati. When he reached a very beautiful and lonely place on the bank of river Lidder (Also called NilGanga) where he asked Nandi (OX) to remain there and do not allow any creature to go ahead. So that place was called ‘Bailgam’ and later on it converted into Pahalgam. After a few miles ahead he washed all his Bibhuti and Chandan of his body so that place is called ‘Chandanwari’. A few miles away Shivji separated snake (reptile) from his neck and kept him to remain on the bank of a glacial lake called Sheshnag lake. Again a few miles ahead he told his son ‘Ganesha’ to seat on a mountain top (14,700 feet m.s.l.). This place is called Mahagunush Top. When he reached at a flat ground he opend his dreadlocks(Jata) and shook vigorously. A few drops of water fell down on earth and became five streams. That’s why this place is called “Panchtarani”. When he reached holy cave made a thunder voice due to which all living creature fled away. But a pair of pigeon’s egg in a hole burst and squabs (nascent born pigeons) came out. Now Shivji kept his eyes closed and started to deliver “Amarkatha”. In the mid of katha Ma Parbati went into sound sleep but squabs heard Amarkatha in full and became immortal. This pair still remains in the hole of cave and give darshan to pilgrims.

• An another myth is also common in Kashmir that one muslim shepherd “Buta Mallik” of Pahalgam saw this cave and ice-lingam while he was grazing his sheep in that region. He became much excited and informed some Hindu sages about natural formation of an Ice-Shiv-Lingam. He showed the forgotten route also. Since then this pilgrimage is regularly done by devotees in every Srawan month of Hindu Calendar.

• There is some twist in this story. According to traditional story which is very common in Kashmir is like this. One Muslim shepherd namely Butta Mullick was given a sack of coal by a Hindu Anchorite. Opening the sack he found it full of gold. Overjoyed, he rushed to look for that very sadhu to express gratitude to him. He followed the sage to far distance place where sadhu disappeared and he reached to the cave and found a very beautiful “Ice-Lingam”. The route was forgotten by hindu devotees due to many bad occurrences for several hundred years. Buta came and described the whole incident to Hindu sages. He also showed the route. Since then Yatra again started. In 1858 A.D. Dogra King Gulab Singh pleased and decreed that representative of Mullick family would always be present at the holy cave shrine along with a mahant and pandit of Ganeshpora during the yatra every year. One third of the offerings received at Holy cave would go to Mullick’d family. Buta’s family was also granted a large estate near Pahalgam and exempted from paying land revenue to the state. Presently Subhang Mallik of Buta Mallik’s family acts as main priest of the Amarnaath Shrine. He does evening AARTI of Shankar Jee everyday during yatra period.

• An another story has come to notice with some historical facts that a monk (Hindu Priest) of Hoshangabad (Now in M.P.) used to go Amarnath yatra with “Chhadi Mubarak” in 16th century. But it was very tiring and time taking. It took several months of one trip. Fifth Sikh Guru Arjundev (1581 to 1606) gave a piece of land at Amritsar and provided facilities to the mahant to start his yatra from there. From That period yatra was continued from Amritsar. In 19th century, Dogra King Gulag singh was made king of Kashmir by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Gulabsingh donated land for hermitage (DashnamiAkhada) at Srinagar to start yatra of “Chhadi Mubarak”. Since then it is continued till the date. Now a days “Chhadi Mubarak” yatra starts from Dashnami Akhara of Srinagar under leadership of Mahant Krishnanand Saraswati. Several hundred sages, hermits, anchorites & devotees accompany the procession. This yatra is 143km long and procession takes halt at Pampur, Bijbehara, Anantnag and proceeds through Matan, Aishmukam and Pahelgam. The procession takes rest at Pahelgam for two days and then proceeds for Holicave. Thousands of Pilgrims/Yatries accompany the holy procession from Pahelgam and passes through Chandanbari, Sheshnag, Panchtarmi and reaches the Holycave on “Raksha-Bandhan”(full moon night of Sawan month of Vikrami calendar which fall in July-August). After Puja-Archana at Holycave the “Chadi Mubarak” returns.

• The history and the geography of the Himalaya in general and Kashmir in particular were recited by daddy. He told us that yatra would be more interesting if we had the following information of visiting place i.e., geographical location, history (when this place came to the knowledge), topography, people and caste-system, eating habits, cloths and garment, houses, belief and religion, cultural function and festivals, Govt.’s development work, their views of govt.’s plan, social lockout, village pradhan’s power and prestige, home industries, their cattle, agriculture and business. Without knowing above information of visiting place is like water pouring on bald-head. The more we know the more we can see that we know a little.

Yatra

Amarnath Yatra Camp.

The temple is a popular yatra destination for some Hindus. In 2011 it received about 634,000 persons, the highest recorded number for the site.[9] The number was 622,000 in 2012. Pilgrims visit the holy site during the 45-day season around the festival of Shravani Mela in July–August, coinciding with the Hindu holy month of Shraavana.

The beginning of the annual pilgrimage, called Amarnath Yatra[10] is marked by 'pratham pujan' to invoke the blessings of Shri Amarnathji.

Route 

Amarnath pilgrims en route the holy shrine

Devotees travel on foot, either from Srinagar or from Pahalgam.The latter journey takes approximately 5 days.

The State Road Transport Corporation and Private Transport Operators provide the regular services from Jammu to Pahalgam and Baltal. Also privately hired taxis are available from Jammu & kashmir and travel with Ajay kumar.

The shorter northern route is just about 16 km long, but has a very steep gradient and is quite difficult to climb. It starts from Baltal and passes through Domial, Barari, and Sangam to reach the cave. The northern route is along the Amarnath valley and all along the route one can see the river Amaravathy (It is more like a tributary of Chenab) which originates from Amarnath Glacier.

It is believed that Lord Shiva left Nandi, The Bull, at Pahalgam (Bail Gaon). At Chandanwari, he released the Moon from his hair (Jataon). On the banks of Lake Sheshnag, he released his snakes. At Mahagunas Parvat (Mahaganesh Mountain), he left his son Lord Ganesha. At Panjtarni, Lord Shiva left behind the five elements - Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Sky. As a symbol of sacrificing the earthly world, Lord Shiva performed the Tandava Dance. Then, finally, Lord Shiva entered the Holy Amarnath Cave along with Parvati.

Facilities 

En route to the cave, various non-profit organizations set up food supply and resting tents called pandals which are available for free to the pilgrims. Near the shrine, hundreds of tents which are erected by locals can be hired for a night's stay. Helicopter services from base camp to Panjtarni (6 km from the cave) are also available from various private operators.

Security

Every year, thousands of central police and state police personnel are deployed to provide security to pilgrims from potential terror threats. The forces position at various halts and also in the perimeter of the shrine.

Deaths

Of the 622,000 yatra pilgrims in 2012, 130 died during the yatra. The major cause was attributed to persons who were not physically fit for the arduous climb, high elevations, and adverse weather undertook the yatra. Some also died in road accidents before reaching the base camp from where the yatra starts. Of the 130 deaths, 88 were due to purported health reasons and 42 in road accidents. The 2012 pilgrimage ended on Shravana Purnima (Raksha Bandan) Day, 2 August 2012.

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