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Holy Ice Lingam of Lord Shiva
Pahalgam, July 15: The first batch of Hindu pilgrims began their trek to the Amarnath shrine on Thursday from Pahalgam.
The batch comprising around 3500 devotees will trek the steep, slippery 48-km Amarnath shrine.
Pilgrims expressed satisfaction over the arrangements. "We are just dying to reach the shrine at earliest. The arrangements are very good this time, we do not have any problems," Jatin Sinha, a pilgrim.
"We are feeling very nice and it is very good. We want that everybody should visit the cave shrine," said Sarika Sharma, another pilgrim. Elaborate and extensive security arrangements have been made by India's paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Armed security personnel line up the journey route that will take pilgrims through five base camps before they reach the Amarnath cave shrine. The Kashmir government has increased the pilgrimage duration to 45 days from one month, following protests from several Hindu groups. This year's pilgrimage is considered especially auspicious and authorities expect a heavy rush of pilgrims.
Several times in the past, the annual pilgrimage has been targeted by Islamic guerrillas fighting Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir. Amarnath stands at a height of nearly 12,500 feet above sea level.
The pilgrimage leads devotees through monsoon rain-swollen streams and past a glacier-fed lake to the cave where they worship an ice stalagmite, believed to be a phallic symbol representing the regenerative powers of the Hindu god
Holy Ice Lingam of Lord Shiva
Pahalgam, July 15: The first batch of Hindu pilgrims began their trek to the Amarnath shrine on Thursday from Pahalgam.
The batch comprising around 3500 devotees will trek the steep, slippery 48-km Amarnath shrine.
Pilgrims expressed satisfaction over the arrangements. "We are just dying to reach the shrine at earliest. The arrangements are very good this time, we do not have any problems," Jatin Sinha, a pilgrim.
"We are feeling very nice and it is very good. We want that everybody should visit the cave shrine," said Sarika Sharma, another pilgrim. Elaborate and extensive security arrangements have been made by India's paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Armed security personnel line up the journey route that will take pilgrims through five base camps before they reach the Amarnath cave shrine. The Kashmir government has increased the pilgrimage duration to 45 days from one month, following protests from several Hindu groups. This year's pilgrimage is considered especially auspicious and authorities expect a heavy rush of pilgrims.
Several times in the past, the annual pilgrimage has been targeted by Islamic guerrillas fighting Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir. Amarnath stands at a height of nearly 12,500 feet above sea level.
The pilgrimage leads devotees through monsoon rain-swollen streams and past a glacier-fed lake to the cave where they worship an ice stalagmite, believed to be a phallic symbol representing the regenerative powers of the Hindu god