This year’s annual Amarnath Yatra (2010) in Jammu and Kashmir has begun on July 1st, 2010, in a grand manner. Over 15,000 pilgrims were started the climb to the holy cave shrine of Lord Shiva. More than 7,000 yatris began their uphill 14 kilometers trek at 8 am on July 1st, 2010, from Baltal to the cave temple. Another group of more than 1,000 yatris has also started their trek from Manigam transit camp to Baltal.
Over 8,000 yatris left the Nunwan base camp in Pahalgam town for Chandanwari. Chandanwari is the first among the four stopovers in the 35 kilometers trek from Pahalgam to Amaranth cave temple. Till date, more than 1.5 lakh pilgrims have registered for Amarnath Yatra. It is expected that the number of pilgrims may cross half-million mark in 2010.
The nearly two-month long Amarnath Yatra 2010 concludes on August 25th. Amarnath Shiva Lingam is the natural ice shivling worshipped as Lord Shiva.