By IANS
Srinagar : The two-month long annual Amarnath pilgrimage concluded Tuesday with the arrival of Lord Shiva’s holy mace in the Himalayan cave shrine in Kashmir. Over 296,000 Hindu pilgrims from across the country visited the shrine, housing an icon of Shiva.
“The yatra (pilgrimage) ended Tuesday after the ‘Charri Mubarak’ (holy mace) arrived at the Amarnath Cave,” said Madan Mantoo, spokesman of Shree Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB). A traditional puja (prayer) was held inside the cave.
The governor of Jammu and Kashmir, S.K. Sinha, who is also the SASB chairman, was among the devotees who offered prayers in the cave.
Mantoo said this year 296,869 registered pilgrims performed the pilgrimage as against 290,990 pilgrims last year.
Of them, 119,757 pilgrims used the south Kashmir Pahalgam route and 153,782 trekked through the north Kashmir Baltal route to reach to the cave shrine, said Mantoo. “In addition to this, 23,330 pilgrims used helicopter services.”
Mantoo also said 42 pilgrims died of natural causes while two locals were killed and 14 people wounded in two guerrilla attacks on the pilgrims in north and south Kashmir areas this year.
The Yatra ends each year with the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan, which coincides with Shravana Purnima.
“Five hundred devotees attended Tuesday’s concluding prayers inside the cave,” Mantoo said.