Amarnath Yatra resumes after remaining suspended due to bad weather

Amarnath Yatra resumed on Wednesday morning after remaining suspended due to bad weather as another batch of 5,982 left from Jammu towards the Valley.

Officials said the batch of 5,982 pilgrims left for the Valley in two escorted convoys from Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu.

"Of these 3,363 are going to Pahalgam base camp while 2,619 are going to Baltal base camp," officials said.

After improvement in weather, the pilgrims were allowed to move towards the cave shrine from Baltal base camp in the day.

Reports said the sky was cloudy all along the two Yatra routes although there are less chances of rainfall along the two routes on Wednesday.

So far, over 65,000 pilgrims have performed this year's Amarnath Yatra, which started on June 30 and will end on August 11.

Amarnath - The holy cave

The cave is situated at an altitude of 3,888 m (12,756 ft), about 141 km from Srinagar.

The cave, located in Lidder Valley, is surrounded by glaciers, snowy mountains and is covered with snow most of the year, except for a short period of time in summer when it is open to pilgrims.

In 1989, pilgrims numbered between 12,000 and 30,000.

In 2011, the numbers reached a peak, crossing 6.3 lakh (630,000) pilgrims.

In 2018 pilgrims numbered 2.85 lakh (285,000). The annual pilgrimage has varied between 20 and 60 days.

The shrine represents an important part of Hinduism. The Shiva Lingam is a stalagmite formation located at the Amarnath Mountain which has a peak of 5,186 metres (17,014 ft), and inside a 40 m (130 ft) high cave at an elevation of 3,888 m (12,756 ft).

The stalagmite is formed due to the freezing of water drops that fall from the roof of the cave onto the floor resulting in an upward vertical growth of ice.

Published on: Wednesday, July 06, 2022, 02:44 PM IST