The 62-day long Amarnath yatra on the mountains of South Kashmir drew to a close on Thursday with the silver Chhari Mubarak (Holy Mace) of Shiva reaching the cave shrine early in the morning.
Mahant Deependra Giri, the custodian of Chhari Mubarak, led the final puja at the cave shrine thus culminating the longest-ever yatra.
Mahant Deependra Giri said that on the auspicious occasion of ‘Shravan Purnima’ today, Pujan at Holy Shrine of Swami Amarnath Ji began with the rising sun at around 6:08 am.
The yatra commenced on 1 July and till 22 August more than 4.70 lakh pilgrims paid obeisance at the holy cave. Last year a total of over 3 lakh pilgrims took part in the Yata. This year a good number of foreign devotees also made it to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath.
As per traditional rituals, the Chhari Mubarak was worshipped at the cave shrine by Mahant Giri and a number of sadhus who carried it from Srinagar on 26 August. The Holy Mace last night halted at Panchtarni on the mountain route and started for the cave shrine at about 3.15 am.
Mahant Giri said the puja started at the cave shrine early morning and lasted for two hours on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.
The puja was started with Vedic hymns as per the age old traditions to bring the holy mace, one of Lord Shiva and another of Goddess Parvati, to the holy shrine of Amarnath situated at 13,500 feet above sea level.
This year the administration made unprecedented arrangements for the devotees on both routes and the Yatra passed off peacefully under tight security deployment. Thousands of security personnel from Jammu and Kashmir Police, Army and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and other agencies were deployed all along the yatra route from Jammu to the cave shrine with choppers and drones monitoring the movement of the cavalcade of yatris.
The authorities had on 23 August suspended the yatra temporarily amid low footfall of pilgrims and to undertake the necessary repairs of the twin routes of the yatra.