Srinagar: With the last rituals of “Pujan and Visarjan” performed at the bank of river Lidder at Pahalgam on Monday, the annual pilgrimage of Chhar-Mubarak of Amarnathji culminated.
Selected number of Sadhus accompanied Holy Silve Mace Lord Shiva and participated in the Pujan at Pahalgam today. Number of members of Parliamentary delegation, including Jagdambika Pal, Sushil Modi and Digvijay Singh, who are currently on a visit to Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir also participated in the Pujan.
Addressing a small gathering after the culmination ceremony, Mahant Deependra Giri, custodian of holy Mace said that though our country is called a land of diversity, people belonging to almost every faith can be found in India wherein many religions coexist. But, he said, annual pilgrimage of holy Amarnath shrine is unique as people from all walks of life in Jammu and Kashmir belonging to different sects and religion contribute to make it successful. Mahant Giri expressed his happiness over performing all the traditional rituals and ‘Pujan’ connected with annual pilgrimage at Holy Shrine on ‘Shravan-Purnima’ and other places on different occasions yesterday.
He said that Holy Mace was airlifted to Holy Shrine for the third consecutive year. Though Government of Union Territory decided to call off this year’s pilgrimage too for the safety of pilgrims because of COVID. But all the rituals connected with Chhari-Mubarak were performed with religious fervor and gaiety since July 24 on the occasion of ‘Ashad-Purnima’ when Bhoomi Pujan was performed at Pahalgam that marks the commencement of annual pilgrimage religiously and traditionally.
Chhari-Mubarak was taken to historic Shankaracharya Temple in Srinagar on August 8 on the occasion of ‘Haryali Amawasaya’ and Sharika Bhawani Temple on the hillock of Hari Parvat next day. Rituals connected with ‘Chhari Sthapana’ were performed on August 11 and traditional ‘Pujan’ was performed on August 13 on the occasion of ‘Nag-Panchami’ in Shri Amareshwar Temple located inside Dashnami Akhara Srinagar. All these rituals were performed following all the Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) and COVID Appropriate Behaviour.
Mr Giri thanked Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha ji and CEO SASB Nitishwar Kumar for making arrangements to airlift Chhari-Mubarak that made possible for him to carry out his religious obligations and preserving the age-old traditions in wake of the cancellation of annual pilgrimage due to Covid-19 pandemic, when asked to comment on the arrangements made by the Government for Chhari-Mubarak Yatra. He also congratulated SASB for making arrangements for Live Telecast of morning and evening ‘Aarti’ and ‘Darshan’ during the entire auspicious month of ‘Shravan’ that facilitated millions of devotees across the Globe. (UNI)