The
Holy Trinity- Brahma-the creator of life, Vishnu-the perpetuator and Mahesh
(Shiva)-the destroyer. Lord Shiva’s power were beyond imagination and were
mightier than the other Gods.
Lord
Shiva is the lord of all five elements, he wears a garland made of human heads,
a snake around his neck, he holds the moon on His head and has the River Ganga
flowing from his hair.
Behind
the religious significance of Amarnath Yatra is an interesting story associated
with Lord Shiva narrating the secret of his immortality to Ma Parvati.
Ma
Parvati once asked Lord Shiva the reason why he wears a garland of human heads
(Mund Mala), to which Lord Shiva replied that every time Ma Parvati dies and is
born again he adds a new head to the garland.
On
hearing this, Ma Parvati asked the reason behind Lord Shiva’s immortality, to
which Lord Shiva said that to know the reason and become immortal, Ma PArvati
will have to listen to the Amar Katha.
Ma
Parvati consistently insisted on hearing the Amar Katha and after a long time
Lord Shiva gave into Ma Parvati’s demand.
To
narrate the story, Lord Shiva started searching for a place away from all
living beings so that no living being could overhear the Amar Katha. He then
chose the Amarnath cave. Lord Shiva started his ascent to the cave from
Pahalgam, where he left his bull Nandi (the place came to be known as Bail
Gaon), further down he released the moon from his hair at Chandanwari. At the
banks of the Lake Sheshnag, he released his snake, then he left his son Lord
Ganesha at Mahagunas Parvat (Mahaganesh Hill). Lord Shiva left the five
elements which form the human beings at Panjtarni.
Shivji
performed the Tandav Nritya with Ma Parvati before entering the cave and taking
his Samadhi on the Deer Skin.
After
leaving all the worldly beings behind, in order to make sure that Lord Shiva
was alone with Ma Parvati, he created Rudra named Kalagni and ordered him to
eliminate every living thing in and around the cave with fire.
Lord
Shiva took his Samadhi and started narrating the Amar Katha to Ma Parvati, he
requested Ma Parvati to keep making some noise in order to ensure Lord Shiva
that she was listening. But as Ma Parvati’s fate was, she fell asleep during
the narration.
It
is believed that one egg considered non-living was lying under the deer skin
remained undestroyed. A pair of pigeons hatched from this egg and became
immortal having overheard the Amar Katha. It is also believed that the pair of
pigeons is still present in the Amarnath Cave.
Inside the
130 ft high Amarnath cave, an ice Shiv Linga is formed. It is a stalagmite
that is formed due to freezing of water drops that fall from the roof of the
cave on to the floor and grows up vertically from the cave floor. It is considered to be a Shiva Linga by Hindus.
The Yatra coincides
with the Hindu Holy month of Shraavana. The Amarnath Yatra starts on the day of
the Massik Shivratri and concludes on Shravan Purnima (Raksha Bandhan). The
Yatra can be made for about two months in a year.
Yatra Dates for 2016: 2nd July 2016 to 18th
August 2016.
There
are two routes which lead to the Amarnath Cave, one via Pahalgam and the other
via Baltal.
The
route via Pahalgam is a 46 km trek.
Pahalgam
to Chandanwari (16km)
Chandanwari
to Pissu Top (3km)
Pissu
Top to Sheshnag (9km)
Panjtarni
to Holy Cave (6km)
Although
the route is longer, most of the pilgrims prefer this route because via this
route you visit all the places that Lord Shiva and Ma Parvati did. It is the
route used by the Gods themselves.
The
route via Baltal is much shorter, it is a 14 km trek.
According
to Hindu Mythology this route was used by the Asurs (the devils) in order to
make it to the cave to overhear the Amar Katha.
Helicopter
tickets are available on both the routes, the helipad is located at Panjtarni
which is 6 kms from the holy cave.
The
helipad is located in Panjtarni, it is a 6 km trek to the holy cave and has to
be done either on foot of pilgrims can also hire ponies for the same.
FareHawker is your one stop for all
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The passengers will be picked up using a world class helicopter from Srinagar
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Amarnath
Yatra is one of the holiest yatras, and we provide you group bookings for the
same. We rid you of all the travel related tensions. You can also book your
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