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| Shree Amarnath cave : Its yatra | | | A.K. Trisal | 6/27/2012 10:08:03 PM |
| The whole of Kashmir is sacred land. Every mountain peak and every water body here is associated with Divinity. To the east there is Harmukh (16903 feet) with Gangbal Lake in its lap. Mahadev peak overlooks Srinagar city. Amarnath(17321 feet) guards its Southern borders and yet beyond the Shamsabari ranges Sharada Mata, so sacred every Hindu keeps a watch on its Northern borders. Bringisha Samhita written by Rishi Bringish states that the ICY-Shivlingam in the cave at Amarnath was revealed to him by Lord Shiva himself upon Intense meditation. Moved by the prayers of his devotees to show them the path of salavation, he revealed the location of the Shrine to his devotees. There is a mention of this cave in kalhana's Rajtaringni. Jonaraja who wrote later edition of Rajtaringni has described the visit of king Zaiunlabiden a muslim ruler of Kashmir (1420-1470) to the shrine. A Persian Historian who visit Kashmir during 1586-1627 has also given description of the cave. It is said Lord Shiva was implored by his wife Parvati to tell her about the secrets of AMAR-KATHA The tale of Eternity. Lord choosed this spot by hitting the mountain with his Trishul which Carved a cave in this mountain and this spot was selected by the Lord for narrating the Amar Katha to Parvati. This date happened to be the full moon day of Shravana month.
Two pigeons which some believed appear on this day at the cave are believed to be SHIVA & PARVATI to bless the faithful on this day. Some believe that these two Pigeons represent too beings who attained Nirvana by overhearing the dialogue between Shiva and Parvati. A legend reveals that a village grocer namely Sodhawani was told by children about the presence of a person, admist them who came riding on a bull. He waited for his arrival and when he came again, Sodhawani recognized him as Lord Shiva and followed him upto the cave, when he later told about his adventure to people they also went to the cave to have Darshana of Lord but they instead found an ice Shivlingam and prayed there and since then the practice of pilgrimage started. Another variant of the legend is that Sodhawanis's one cow made it to cave daily to provide milk to Lord Shiva and once, When Sodhawani followed her, he Saw Lord Shiva face to face and received his blessings.
The pilgrimage to Amarnath cave stopped during 18th centaury AD as Muslim rulers of the period made it difficult for Hindus to carry on their religions duties and with the passage of the time people forgot about the route to reach to the cave. Gradually the importance of this pilgrimage was lost. However with the change of rulers in 19th centuary when Muslim rule was replaced with Sikh and later by Dogra rulers, things started to change. It was in the new political environment Hindus sought to rediscover the route to the cave, which was discovered again by a Muslim Shepherded of Malik family, It is said that a business man of Jaipur(Rajasthan) namely Sh. Goenka founder father of Geeta press Gorakhpur came to village Mattan in search of the route to Shree Amar Nath cave alongwith a Saint of Gorakhpur. On reaching Mattan village he enquired all about the holy cave. One Muslim member of Malik family from Batakote (village adjacent to Phalagam) who was a Shepherded offered his service for guiding and acquainting of the route to the holy cave and accordingly a Brahmin of Mattan also accompanied for offering prayers at holy cave. Hence a team of four members viz. Sh.Goneka , Saint of Gorakhpur and Shepherded of Malik family and Brahmin of Mattan left for the holy cave. After Concluding the Pooja Archana Sh. Goneka offered Alms at the holy cave which were collected by these three people who were accompanying Sh. Goneka and distributed among themselves in three equal shares.
When after performing the yatra Sh.Goneka reached back to Gorakhpur he publicized the importance of the holy cave.through the publication of Geeta press. So people throughout started to visit the Holy Cave on shravan full moon fortnight Poorinamashi every year and accordingly the yatra which was ceased during the Muslim rule in 18thcentaury started again. The traditional yatra starts from Srinagar Dashnami Akhara located near budshah Bridge around 6th of Sharwana Shulk Paksha. A prayer is held at his temple amdist large devotees and Sadhu where a silver mace about 10 feet long, known as chari Mubarak is propitiated. Mahants carry this silver mace in there hand right upto the cave through various halts enroute. The first part of the yatra is from Srinagar to Phalagam with subsequent halts atPampore, Avantinpura, Bijbehara, Thujwara and Ganeshbal. The second part of yatra is a mountainous track covered by foot or horse or on Dhandis. This is done in four days with three night halt at Chandan Wari, Wavjan and Panchtarni. On the morning of Poorinamashi chari Mubarak along with yatri leave for final journey from Panchtarni which goes on graudual ascent by the side of a hill then it turns by 180 degree into the valley while there is a large cave at 3880 metres height above Mean sea level. This cave in 15mtr. long 17mtr. wide and 14mtr. high and about 70mtr. above valley floor and this is the ultimate destination of the yatra. In this cave one finds stalagmite of ice Shivalingam formed by trickling water drops from the celling of the cave. This Shivlinga at its largest has been found 14 feet height and about 5m in diameter at base. Before entering the cave the devout take a bath in the Amaravati Nalla which remove all the fatigue and prepaves one mentally to have a Darashan of Shiva in his Linga. After praying before Lord in traditional way yatri sincars their bodies with while chalk powder scooped from out the walls of the cave. Just by the side of main Linga in the Cave are two more Lingas, small in size which is workshiped as Parvati and Ganesh. It is also said that this ice Shivalinga wanes and waxes alongwith the phases of the Moon. On Amavasya it is not visible but on Poornamashi it is at the maximum. There is an alternate route also to reach the holy cave. It starts from Baltal on Srinagar-Leh highway the cave is only 15km journey from this side though difficult but take less time. This route as been converted into the Pony track by Army. The to and fro journey is covered on one day on horseback. Now helicopter service has also been introduced from this side. |
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