Braving heavy rains, more than 1600 pilgrims left Jammu on Monday for the twin base camps of the cave shrine of Amarnath in the south Kashmir Himalayas amid tight security arrangements.
The 38-day pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high shrine, which commenced on July 3 from the valley, has recorded darshan of the ice lingam of Lord Shiva by more than 3.77 lakh pilgrims.
Escorted by CRPF and police personnel, the 23rd batch of 1,635 pilgrims, which included 1,303 men, 286 women, four children, and 42 sadhus and sadhvis, left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here in 59 vehicles for the twin base camps in Kashmir between 3:25 am and 4:00 am, the officials said. The first convoy, carrying 374 pilgrims in 17 vehicles, left for the shorter but steeper 14-km Baltal route in the Ganderbal district, followed by the second convoy of 1,262 pilgrims in 62 vehicles, who are undertaking the yatra via the 48-km traditional Pahalgam route in the Anantnag district, they said. Chanting "Bum Bum Bhole" and ''Har Har Mahdev'' with enthusiasm, pilgrims braved heavy rains while leaving for the cave shrine.
With this, a total of 14,12,95 pilgrims have departed from the Jammu base camp for the valley since July 2, when Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch.
Last year, more than 5.10 lakh pilgrims paid obeisance at the cave shrine, which houses a naturally formed ice lingam.
The pilgrimage is scheduled to end on August 9, coinciding with the Raksha Bandhan festival.