Amid heavy rains, 5600 more pilgrims begin Amarnath Yatra
JAMMU, July 4 (PTI): Despite heavy rains, a contingent of over 5,600 pilgrims set off from Jammu towards the twin basecamps, Baltal and Palagam, of the Amarnath cave shrine on Thursday, officials said.
More than 30,000 devotees offered prayers to the naturally formed ice lingam on Wednesday alone, bringing the total number of pilgrims to over one lakh, they said.
The seventh batch of pilgrims included 4,487 men, 1,011 women, 10 children and 188 ‘sadhus’ and ‘sadhvis’ who departed at 3.13 am in 219 vehicles, under the escort of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp, the officials said.
