AMARNATH
By
Air
The
nearest airport is in Srinagar, 145 km away. Jet Airways
has daily flights from Delhi and Indian Airlines flies
in from Mumbai on Sundays..
By Train
The nearest railhead
is Jammu Tawi in Jammu. Various express trains link
it with major Indian cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai,
Calcutta and Amritsar.
By
Road
The nearest road head
is Pahalgam, nearly 45 km away. There are local buses
and tour buses by J&KRTC (Jammu and Kashmir Road Transport
Corporation) from Srinagar. During the pilgrimage
(July and August), a few buses also ply the route
from Jammu.
July to August. Reasons
why: The cave-temple remains closed the rest of the
year.
Taxis and buses are
available from Srinagar and Jammu to Pahalgam; the
nearest you can get to Amarnath on a vehicle. More
than faith, what you need most on a trek to Amarnath
are strong legs and a pair of sturdy shoes. As thousands
flock to this divine shrine (during July-August) in
the Himalayas, the air is fragrant with the smell
of incense and flowers. In a huge cave Lord Shiva
sits, in the form of a lingam, formed naturally by
an ice-stalagmite, that wanes and waxes with the moon.
By its side are, two more ice-lingams, that of Parvati,
Shiva's consort and of their son, Ganesha. The trek
to Amarnath from Pahalgam (98 km from Srinagar) takes
five days; there are night halts at Chandanwari, Wawjan
and Panchtarni. The Sheshnag Mountains can be seen
at a distance, which get their name from their seven
peaks resembling the snake (on which Vishnu and Laxmi
rest) in Hindu mythology. Panchtarni is the last stop
where the devotees take a dip in the freezing-cold
waters of the lake nearby before setting out for the
shrine. Hymns and religious chants fill the air. Swami
Vivekananda couldn't talk of anything else for days
after the Amarnath pilgrimage. Neither will you.
Located in the upper
Himalayas, Amarnath Temple is freezing-cold throughout
the year. There is snowfall from September to June.
July to September are the monsoon months. . |
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