Jammu: Sadhus from across the country have started flocking to the winter capital Jammu to join the annual Amarnath pilgrimage which is scheduled to start
Jammu: Sadhus from across the country have started flocking to the winter capital Jammu to join the annual Amarnath pilgrimage which is scheduled to start in the Valley next month.
Over 200 Sadhus, including women, have arrived at their traditional Ram Mandir base camp in the old city’s Purani Mandi area and are upbeat to offer their prayers at the 3,880-metre high holy cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, housing the naturally formed ice-Shivling.
The 62-day long pilgrimage will commence on July 1 from the twin tracks — the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in the Anantnag district and the 14-km shorter but steep Baltal route in the Ganderbal district.
The first batch of pilgrims, including a group of Sadhus, is leaving for the Yatra from Jammu on June 30.
“I am performing the Yatra for the first time and waiting eagerly to reach Kashmir, the name of which fills our chest with pride as Kashmir to Kanyakumari is India,” a 58-year-old sadhu from Andhra Pradesh, Vasudevanand Sarawari, told PTI.
The sadhu reached the Ram Temple after conducting Char Dham’, a pilgrimage of four holy places — Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath — by foot.
