48-day-long Amarnath Yatra ends with 'Puja'

Srinagar, Aug 18: The 48-day-long annual Amarnath Yatra, which started on July 2, ended peacefully on Thursday with 'Puja' inside the cave shrine, authorities said.

"After the traditional Puja that followed the arrival of the 'Chhari Mubarak' (Lord Shiva's Mace) at the cave shrine today, the Yatra has peacefully ended," an official from the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board said.

The board manages the affairs of the annual Hindu pilgrimage to the cave shrine situated at an altitude of 3,888 metres above the sea level in south Kashmir's Anantnag district.

Due to the ongoing unrest in the Valley, only some 221,000 pilgrims performed the Yatra which is the lowest number in the last many years.

Despite the declining number of pilgrims this year, the Amarnath Yatra went on peacefully and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere involving the Yatris.

Roadblocks by protestors disrupted all vehicular movement on the highways and main roads of the Kashmir Valley at times and this sometimes involved the vehicles used by the Yatris, but there was no targeting of the pilgrims as such anywhere.

IANS