Yearly Amarnath Yatra was small, quick affair that the government would facilitate with the help of clergy. It was S K Sinha, the shrine board’s most controversial chairman who brushed aside the ecological concerns and gave it a longer life. Khalid Bashir Ahmad traces vital historic documents to draw a sketch of the pilgrimage early last century

Sonamarg-Glacier-on-the-verge-of-destructionThe Amarnath cave is a major Shaivite Hindu shrine in Kashmir. It is located in the south Kashmir mountain range, 145 kilometers from Srinagar, at an altitude of 3175 meters. The Hindus identify the shrine as the abode of Shiva and his consort Parvati and arrive in large numbers during the annual yatra, trekking the arduous mountain route to have darshan of the naturally formed shivalingam. Over the years, the number of pilgrims has swelled from a couple of thousand to few lakhs.

Before the annual pilgrim surge to the cave shrine witnessed in recent years, not many people in India knew about the Amarnath yatra. The pilgrimage used to be a low key affair with almost nominal local participation as most of the few thousand pilgrims came from different parts of India, chiefly from its plains. Today, it is a household name among its majority Hindu population.

In the year 2000, the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) was constituted under an Act of the J&K legislature to manage the affairs of the yatra. Four years later, the SASB under the then Chairman, Governor S K Sinha, decided to extend the period of the yatra to two months. Prior to this, the annual ritual was conducted in a matter of days as per the age-old tradition related with the pilgrimage. The extension clashed with the custom. Mahant Deepinder Giri, custodian of the holy mace, entered into a verbal spat with the SASB on the question of religious sanctity of prolonging the period of the yatra. There were protests, chiefly from environment groups, against the extension seen as fraught with dangers for the ecology of the area but the SASB did not countenance any opposition to its decision.

The short duration yatra is not the only tradition given a send off by the SASB. Another age old practice attached with the pilgrimage was that all the pilgrims would accompany the chhari in a procession which would start from Srinagar and proceed to the cave through various halting points. Now the pilgrims directly go to the destination, irrespective of the chhari and keep on pouring in over a month ahead of the procession of the mace starting from the akhara in the concluding days of the yatra.

The extended period of the yatra had its natural collary in an unprecedented annual rush of pilgrims to the cave shrine, a situation viewed seriously by environmentalists. Among the voices of alarm was a revered Hindu religious head, Puri Shankaracharya Adhokshajanand Teerth Maharaj, who after returning from the yatra in 2012 expressed grave concern over the harm to the ecology caused by quintals of polythene littered by pilgrims along the Amarnath Yatra track. He spoke about “several problems there” that “cannot be blamed on others”. The argument that the BJP led government in Uttrakhand put a restriction on the number of pilgrims to the Gangotri, the Yamunotri and the Kedarnath temples in the Garwal Himalayas in north-India for environmental reasons which ought to be emulated by the SASB did not find any merit with the latter. The SASB, on the other hand, came out with press releases highlighting its endeavour to keep clean the yatra track.

Peaceful protestation against the extension of the yatra exploded into a full blown and bloody agitation in 2008 when the State government allotted 800 kanals of land to the SASB in ecologically fragile area en route to the cave shrine. The allotment order was subsequently withdrawn but not before a large number of lives were consumed by the agitation that saw an unceremonious exit of Sinha, albeit after completing his five year term. The SASB under its new head curtailed the period of the yatra from two months to one and a half month.

Historically, the Amarnath pilgrimage was conducted within a fortnight. The duration was based on tradition. During the Dogra rule (1846-1947 AD) when the cave shrine was discovered (or rediscovered?), the pilgrimage would start in the first week of August or the last week of July, depending on the Shrawan Purnmashi, the night of the full moon. The annual schedule was issued by the management of the pilgrimage which announced the start of the yatra from Srinagar with different halting points en-route to the cave shrine. According to this schedule, on the first day, the Chhari would leave akhara in Srinagar to visit the Shankaracharya temple for puja and then return to the akhara.

On the second day, a similar visit would be undertaken to Hari Parbat temple. After usual puja at the akhara the next day, the pilgrimage would start from Srinagar in the evening. The first night stopover would be at Pampore, with the subsequent night halts at Bijbihara, Mattan, Aishmuqam, Pahalgam, Chandanwari, Wavjan and Panchtarni. From there the last segment of the pilgrimage would be the arrival and darshan at the cave shrine and return from there the same day.  The return journey would take four days to reach Pahalgam where the yatra would disperse.

LetterThe fortnight-long pilgrimage schedule was followed all through the years and decades as is evidenced by the archival record pertaining to the last century. The Yatra schedule issued by Swami Shivratnanand Sarwasati, Mahant Chhari Sri Amarnath Ji in the year 1929, clearly establishes the practice and tradition of a short duration Amarnath Yatra.

That year, the pilgrimage started from Srinagar on August 9 and concluded at the cave shrine with the darshan on August 20. In the year 1930, the pilgrimage, commencing on July 30 from Dashnami Akhara in Srinagar, reached the cave shrine for darshan on August 10 and undertook the return journey the same day. Likewise, in 1931, the Yatra from Srinagar began on August 18 and reached the cave shrine ten days later.

The yatra in 1943 culminated in 12 days beginning from Srinagar on August 5. In a public notice issued by the then governor of Kashmir, the pilgrims were informed that the yatra as per ‘ancient tradition’ would commence on August 5 from Srinagar and, after halts at various points, reach Pahalgam on August 10. The notice further elaborated that the onward mountain trek from Pahalgam would start on August 12 and conclude at the cave shrine on August 15. The Chhari would return to Pahalgam on August 17. The Notice was issued on Sawan 14, 2000 of the Hindu calendar corresponding to July 29, 1943. The pilgrims were also advised to take with them enough woolens and kangris (firepots) to keep themselves warm. The notice also warned weak, infirm and aged persons against setting out on the yatra. Tourists visiting Pahalgam were asked to reschedule their visit for their own convenience.

In the year 1960, the yatra began on July 28 and the darshan at Amarnath cave was held on August 7 with the pilgrims undertaking the return journey the same day. In the succeeding years, the practice of a short duration yatra continued unabated till the arrival of S K Sinha as Governor of J&K and Chairman, SASB on the scene. He made a paradigm shift in the conduct of the yatra landing himself and the SASB into a perpetual controversy.

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