Pleasant weather stops melting of ice-lingam

Pahalgam (Amarnath base camp), Jun 29: The melting of the ice-Shivalingam in Amarnath has stopped following a considerable drop in temperature due to heavy rains in the cave priphery.

''The 'unusual' and 'dramatic' melting of the ice-Shivalingam due to significant rise in temperature within the priphery of the holy cave shrine, has stopped for the time being,'' officials said.

The ice-lingam was melting with a great speed for the past two weeks due to unusual rise in temperature, but since yesterday afternoon the melting stopped after the entire belt experienced rains and the temperatures dropped.

It has generated a ray of hope among the pilgrims and the authorities that the phallic symbol of Lord Shiva in the holy Amarnath cave shrine will now last a bit longer.

The officials believe that the first few batchs of registered yatris would now be able to have the glimpse of the self-made Shivalingam if the weather God remains kind.

sources was the first to report the melting of the 'Shivalingam'.

Hundreds of unregistered pilgrims have been thronging the Amarnath cave daily for the past few days though the two-month-long yatra will commence from tomorrow.

A team of journalists, which visited the shrine yesterday before the rains started, saw the 'ice-lingam' melting.

Even the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) board, headed by Jammu and Kashmir Governor Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha, had said the 'ice-lingam' would not last long.

''It is too warm in the shrine vicinity. The premature melting due to rise in temperature is somewhat unusual,'' Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the shrine board Arun Kumar had said.

He said the shrine board has contemplated several steps to preserve the 'ice-lingam'.

However, the CEO said as the Jammu and Kashmir High Court was hearing a case on the alleged tampering of the 'ice-lingam', the shrine board could not do much about it.

Dr Kumar said global warming was one of the major factors for early melting of the 'Shivalingam'.

Holy cave shrine Director M K Raina had said the 'ice-lingam' was twelve-and-a-half feet in height and eight feet in girth on in the first week of this month and now had ''dramatically'' shrunk and reduced to one-tenth of its size now.

UNI

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