Wednesday 13th May, 2026
Srinagar, Jul 25: Despite rain, fresh batches of pilgrims on Thursday left base camps for the holy Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, where so far over 3 lakh pilgrims have paid obeisance since the commencement of the annual pilgrimage from both shortest Baltal and traditional Pahalgam tracks from July 1.
“Yatra was progressing smoothly from both Baltal and Pahalgam routes despite light rain,” a yatra official told UNI on Thursday.
He said 7,778 pilgrims, including women, sadhus and sadhvis besides children had darshan of the self made Ice-Shivlingam at the cave shrine on Wednesday.
Chanting ‘Har Har Mahadev’ and ‘Bam Bam Bholay’, fresh batch of pilgrims left Baltal base camp for the holy cave shrine early this morning. Pilgrims after covering the distance on foot are scheduled to reach the cave shrine this afternoon. Pilgrims, who had darshan at the cave shrine on Sunday, have started their return journey towards Baltal base camp.
He said fresh batch of pilgrims also left Nunwan Pahalgam base camp for Chandanwari, the last motorable halting station on the traditional route. After night halt there, pilgrims will leave for next halting station on foot on Friday.
Pilgrims, who had night halt at different halting stations on the traditional track, have also started their journey towards the cave shrine early this morning. Since this morning, pilgrims, who had night halt at nearby station, are reaching cave shrine to pay obeisance.
A record over 3 lakh pilgrims have already paid obeisance at the Amarnath holy cave shrine till this morning from July 1 and the yatra will conclude on August 15.