Pilgrims set out on the Amarnath yatra on Wednesday after it was thrown open from the Pahalgam side in south Kashmir
The Amarnath yatra from the traditional Pahalgam route commenced on Wednesday. Hundreds of devotees, including women and sadhus, embarked on the three-day journey through rugged hills from the base camp of Nunwan early in the morning, officials said.
The 44-day-long annual pilgrimage had begun from the shorter Baltal route in north of Srinagar on June 28 but could not be started from the Pahalgam route as well because the track between Chandanwari and Panjtarni halting places was still snowbound then.
On Wednesday, a fresh batch of pilgrims left the Nunwan and Baltal base camps for the 12,729-foot-high cave shrine in Kashmir Himalayas. Already, 50,528 devotees have paid obeisance at the sanctum santorium and had darshan of the self-made ice shivling, Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) officials said.
They added that the majority of the pilgrims who left Nunwan on Wednesday morning will have a night stay at Chandanwari, the last motorable halting station on the 42-km-long traditional route, and before climbing the Pissu top hill, the most difficult part of the journey. However, others will start their foot journey or on ponybacks to the next halting station, Sheshnag. Officials also said in spite of overnight rainfall, the pilgrimage from the Baltal route was going on smoothly.