Days before being carried to the holy Amarnath cave shrine, the Chhari Mubarak (holy mace of Lord Shiva) was on Monday taken to the ancient ‘Sharika Bhawani’ temple on the Hari Parbat in Srinagar to pay obeisance to the Goddess.

Custodian of the holy mace, Mahant Deependra Giri said that the Chhari Mubarak was taken for prayers at the temple on the occasion of ‘Shravan Shukla Paksha Pratipada’, as per the age-old traditions.

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Sizable number of Sadhus and devotees participated in the prayers that lasted for about two hours.

Goddess ‘Sharika-Bhawani’ popularly known as ‘Tripursundari’ and ‘Chakareshwari Devi’ amongst the mystics, is believed to be ‘Isht Devi’ (presiding deity) of the Srinagar city who manifested herself in a figure of ‘Shila’ (holy rock) at Hari-Parvat.

Chhari-Sthapana’ ceremony shall be performed on Sunday at Shri Amareshwar Temple Akhara Building in the Budshah Chowk Srinagar and traditional ‘Chhari-Pujan’ shall be performed on the occasion of ‘Nag-Panchami’ that falls on Friday, the 9th of August, he said.

Chhari-Mubarak shall leave on 14 August for Holy Cave Shrine of Swami Amarnath situated at an altitude of 13500 feet in South Kashmir from Dashnami Akhara for the main course of pilgrimage.

The traditional pujan and rituals shall be performed on the auspicious occasion of ‘Shravan-Purnima’ on 19 August, this year, the Mahant added.