The Epic Amarnath Yatra

The Beginning

   It was May of '11. Amarnath trekking was one of my desires from a long time. Desire met reality when, one of my friends told us his desire about Amarnath Yatra. Then, we planned to enjoy the summer vacation in Amarnath trekking. 1st step was ticket booking. So, we booked our train tickets from Howrah station to Jammu Tawi via Himgiri Express. We had to take a medical test from a certified physician to get the confirmation of the journey. I can remember the exact date. It is 12th July of '11. With full of excitement, we arrived at Howrah Jn. & got into the train at the right time.

Destination

   The train was running late. For that, we reached our destination, Jammu Tawi station a few hours late.

    Jammu, the gateway of J&K is also the winter capital of J&K. There were a lot of  Security guards & Jawans in the station & outside to control the whole region to peace from anti-nationalists. You have to buy another local SIM to use the phone. Your SIM card is invalid here. It's like another country in a country. Srinagar is around 300 km from Jammu. For the massive train journey, we decided to remain in Jammu for the rest of the day. It was 'Sunny International', a hotel in the bank of Tawi river where we stayed in that night.

Local Sightseeing

 In the afternoon, we took a short hangout in the Jammu city. Here, the roads are covered with many varieties store. Most of those are of dry fruits & woollen clothes. We went to visit a temple named, Shree Raghunath Ji temple.

    Basically, it is a temple of God Rama, Laxmana & Goddess Sita Devi. From 1835 by the order of King Gulab Singh worship started here.  After visiting this place we went to a local market named, Hari Market. It is famous for winter clothes & Sarees. The main facility of the market is that you can buy a lot of things & they will ship those to your house by courier for a little extra money.

From Jammu to Srinagar

   We woke up early the next day. Packing our luggage, we arrived at Jammu Taxi Stand. As we already booked a car so we waited a little bit there. Next, we got into a Toyota car with a suitable driver. It was 6.25 am. & we started our journey with full of excitements. After a little bit of time from the market side road, we came to NH 1-A. The main problem in planes in a car is the traffic jam. We faced the same here. It cost 1 hr. We took our 1st halt at Domel about 33km from Jammu.

    After Domel if you choose left turn, then you will reach Katra, famous for Vaishno Devi Temple.

We took straight road for Srinagar. After Udhampur if you observe nature, you will see a sudden change in Pir Panjal mountains. There is a small village in this mountain range named, Kud. There is a Govt. tourist complex in this village. After Kud from running car, we observed many 'Vandaras'. Here pilgrims get free food & medical check-up. Next halt was Patnitop.

 
  The view of mountains along with greenish Pine & Dewdar trees was really attractive from here. Next halt was Ramban. This place is mentioned for 'Chenab', a hydraulic power station on Chandravanga river. Before entering Jawahar tunnel A security team of Jawans checked our luggage & gave us permission to go further. The height of the tunnel is 7 feet. This 2.5 km tunnel connects planes of India & Kashmir valley. Next halt was for tea at Qazigund. After Khabanal the only road divides into two. The right-sided road goes along with Lidder river up to Pahel Gaon & other one goes to Srinagar. Srinagar is 51 km from here. We saw many cricket bat making factories beside the road in the Willow forest. Apart from Willow, we saw Saffron estates. It is one type of spice & used in cooking as a colouring agent. It is farmed in only two places in India. One is Sangla of Kinnaur district of H.P. & other is Pampore of Kashmir. After a while, we crossed the Jhelum river & entered Srinagar.

Welcome to Srinagar

   In Srinagar, we got into a hotel named Dalgate opposite to Chinar Bagh at City centre. With sweet sun rays of the noon, the whole area was looking majestic. The Chinar trees beside the road were amazing. Walking a little bit more, we came to the bank of Dal Lake. There were numerous colourful houseboats in a row on the left side. As if the boats were waiting for us with colourful dresses. It was going to be the evening & the real beauty was going to be revealed. The colourful lights of the houseboats, the shops with suitable weather made the whole area nostalgic. As if we just landed into heaven. Coming back from the Dal Lake we entered the Emporium. The Shawl museum of the Emporium right on the 1st floor was amazing. You will get here numerous kinds of shawl, carpets etc. We got a content book for free. I was shocked by open one or two pages of the book. From the Ramayana, the Mahabharata period to the Kushan's Kanishka period ... different types of printed or handcrafted shawls. Our eyes got attracted by the handcrafted carpet showing the Amarnath Yatra with Snow made Shivaling.

From Srinagar to Pahalgam

  Amarnath is at the northeast corner from Srinagar. In noon at 12, we had our car to go. It was a white coloured XYLO car. The name of the driver was Firtous. With nostalgic Hindi songs, we started our journey. We Travelled 51 km to reach Khanabal, The meeting point of Jhelum & Lidder. Pahalgam is 45 km from here. After Khanabal we started to follow Lidder instead of  Jhelum. The name of the district is Anantnag. Pahalgam is the 1st village of the district that one passes when coming from Srinagar. So, it is named like that. The main profession of the villagers is farming. They farm various crop foods eg. Rice, Wheat, Maize. They also farm various kinds of apples in their gardens. In the way, we had to go through the Green Tunnel.

   Basically, it is a tunnel made of green Chinar trees naturally. We also watched some little hut type houses in the mountains abruptly. These are the houses belongs to the Guzzar Community. Long long years ago, they came here on foot from Afganisthan, & made permanent residences here. Most of them are a cowboy. In the Amarnath Yatra session, they help the pilgrims in many ways & earn a few money. After checking our luggage in an electric check post we entered our hotel.

Pahalgam

     We got a shelter in hotel Regent right on the 2nd floor.

     The view of nature from my balcony was so attractive that, I ran into the roof of the hotel. Here I got the 360-degree vision of natural beauty. It was awfully awesome. A short rain made the afternoon so much attractive that I am still unable to say about the beauty in words. Rain refreshed green Chinar, Pine, Poppler & Dewar trees were looking livingly awesome. 12 snow-covered peaks of mt. Pirpinjal were looking magnificent. From Kolahoi glacier, East Lidder & from Shesnag, West Lidder got birth & met here. For me, Pahalgam is the most beautiful town in J&K. Leaving the hotel room, I came to the bridge. Standing upon the bridge, I looked below at the crystal clear water of the Lidder. After crossing the bridge we went to a park.

 
   Then we entered the Mammal Temple nearby. It is typically a Shiv Mandir. It is founded by King Joy Singh in the 12th century. There was a square kund in front of the temple.

    Leaving from the temple & keeping the shops aside we walked further & reached the Tulip Valley. As it was not the session, There were a few tulips. But those were beautiful.

 





   After tulip garden, we entered a Bandara. There we collected some news regarding our journey to the Amarnath. Leaving from the Bandara, we entered the local market.

   The market was fully loaded with various types of woollen clothes & dry fruits. I bought a pair of hand gloves, a jacket & a woollen cap.

  Then we again entered the Bandara to took our dinner. In the evening, the whole valley was looking like heaven. Different types of lights made it so charming. Pahalgam is 7244 ft from MSL. Chandanbari is 16 km from here. Nowadays, there are various Govt. transport services from Pahalgam to Chandanbari. Early time, when there was no transport, people used to start walking from Pahalgam. After dinner, we came back to our hotel room. Then, I got a list of useful things by our leader & I kept all those things in my rucksack. The only thing that I needed was a hiking pole. Then I went to sleep.

From Pahalgam to Chandanbari

   That night was unforgettable. Excitements of the journey made me crazy. I couldn't even sleep well that night. It was 17th of July. I woke up with a loud chorus. "Har Har Bom Bom, Har Har Mahadev, Amarnath Ji ki jay." This chorus of pilgrims made us too much active about the journey. I took a quick bath & became ready within a few minutes. Keeping get-pass in my shirt pocket, carrying my backpack, I got out of the hotel. The natural beauty of Pahalgam at dawn is unforgettable. 12 peaks of the Pir Panjal was looking like 12 monks, meditating with deep concentration. Lidder is flowing with its own pace as if it wants to take us to its origin, Sheshnag 30 km from Pahalgam. Today our night stay would be there. Chandanbari is 16 km from Pahalgam. We would go there by bus. Bus came. At first, I didn't identify it as a bus. Then I saw the sticker 'J&K Paribahan Nigam' It was something like Bolero type car. The bus started to go. We saw many unstable houses with tents beside the roads. These are for the night staying for those pilgrims, who starts the Amarnath Yatra by foot from Jammu or Khanabal. We saw many of them walking beside the roads. The bus halted at a place named Beetab valley, named after shooting of a Hindi movie named Beetab. last night there was heavy rainfall on this route. that made the road clayed. With that, the much pilgrims & horses made the road congested. So, it was impossible for our bus to go further. So, we got out of the bus & started walking.
 

    First thing what I needed was a hiking pole. I bought it, made of willow from a seller.

  Then I started to walk keeping the Lidder on one side of mine. After walking for a mile, I saw many  Vandaras in a row beside our road. We entered one named Vishal Bandara, Delhi. 

   We got Puri, Paratha, Dal, Curd, Sweet. All items were delicious but as we had to walk more on that day, I ate a little. Taking a cup of tea, we got out of the Bandara. Then we followed a line to show our pass for Amarnath to the checking military group at the military base camp.

From Chandanbari to Pissutop

   The base camp is in Chandanbari. After checking papers, get-pass we started walking again. ''Har Har Mahadev, Amarnath Ji ki jay''. These slogans made us much active & encouraged. We started to go down on the wide hill-clayed road. Good wishes of the Vandara guys pleased us. Chanting 'the Shiv stotram', they tied yellow-reddish bands in our heads. They also gave us a bunch of chocolates & kept a photo of LordShiva with a rudraksha in each of our shirt pockets. We got the news from them that, on that day around 5k people got a pass to go to the Amarnath. There are 2 ways to reach the destination. One is from Srinagar via Baltal, 14 km & other is from Chandanbari, 34 km. The last route is more popular.  By the way, the famous Chari community, a team of monks with saffron-coloured clothes also go to the Amarnath on this route, each year. In each Srabana, on Shukla paksha, they start their journey to the Amarnath. Good to say, they are the forwarder of this yatra. But in each year this tithi does not come in Shrabana. But it always comes before the Guru Purnima. In 2k11 the yatra was started on 29th June & we left our home on 12th July. We were walking slowly. In this type of mountainous road, each one should walk slowly as roads are narrow & by chance, you may fall into the deep canyon & there are many ups & downs in these mountainous roads, that will make you inactive easily. After walking for a while we saw a Bandara with a picture of a monk pasted in front of it. Some years before when I was travelling in Uttarakhand, in Ranikhet we visited the ashram of a monk named Hina Khan. I saw his picture in front of the Bandara. He was a Muslim but worshipped Lord Shiva for a lifetime. We entered the Bandara. Seeing a monk, I asked him as they came from Ranikhet or not. He didn't reply anything but gave me a leaflet of their community which proved me right. Taking a cup of tea from the Bandara, we started walking again. After walking for a while we got Lidder river again as a companion. But here its flow got stuck into glaciers, good to say moren.

   We walked around 1 km from the starting point. Horse owners with their horses were also following us. "Ghora ligie Shab" … their request made me pity. When you see those slim fatless horse owners, you definitely feel pity. Though they are known as Arya-Guzzar, after coming here they transformed into the Muslim. They live in small houses in this valley with their cattle. In these 2 months, they earn a little more by lifting people on the horse. They are poor but they are not a thief. They save the tourists by giving their life also.

   We decided to go further riding on the horse. On this narrow hill road, horse riding is one of the works of bravery. 'Cause in terms of life you can believe your leg but not horse's legs. We came to Pisutop (11144 ft ) by riding on a horse. 

  Seeing me frightened, horse owner Imran said,  "Darr Nahi Babu, Hum to upke pass hain, Amarnath Ji to hain, Darr Nahi babu." The road became narrow. We stopped at a side of the road to give the way to the people who were returning back. I saw some military men carrying 2 dead bodies each on a stretcher. One was of 50 to 55 year & other was too young. It screamed at me. After coming to a plane we got off the horse. In such a long altitude seeing plane, I amazed. Here a shocking incident happened. I heard a screamed voice saying " Please help me! help me! ..." Looking down at the canyon, I saw a girl trying to climb up. Keeping her legs in the stone groove she raised her right hand towards me. With the help of Imran, I picked her up. The girl was looking too much frightened. Sitting on a rock, she drank some water from her bottle & said, 'You saved my life!'. I said, ' Not me Imran saved you'. Meanwhile, her parents came riding on the horse. Hearing all situation they thanked us & awarded Imran with some amount of money.

    

 

   
   Blue sky. Sunny Day. Weather was awesome. Holding a tree I looked behind & saw many people coming upward in a row looking like ant colonies. Long long years ago God used to fall down rocks from the place to kill Giant into small pieces. For that reason, this place is called Pisu. It's true or false, I don't know but it is true that this place is too steep. So, it is not an easy task to come here by trekking. But sacrificing all trouble, many come here each year, only ... only ... to see Amarnath - ice made a replica of the Shivaling! I think it's not about only that. It's all about a feeling that the people get here. That's amazing. We started walking again.

From Pissutop to Shesnag:

   Big plane. No trees nearby. No mountains. As if we were walking through a big hemisphere covered with blue sky. From 1 year to 80 years older pilgrim ... all were walking in a row. I asked one mother who was carrying a baby of 1 year old, why she came here with her baby at this very young age. She told that only for the grace of GOD Amarnath she got a child. I said to her that she might come some years after as the baby was too little. She told in dream Amarnath Ji told her to come in that time. I amazed at her words. Deep belief increases will power through big factors which is not possible in case of Medical Science.

      
   After walking a while, the valley went down. When going through the route, I saw many colourful tents. The name of the place is Jojiwal.

  From this place military protection gets strong. Vandara boys gave us chocolates. In request of one boy, we took tea. The 'Shiv stotram' at Vandara fully rebooted our energy level. it made a big float in our blood. It made us really crazy. At that moment we forgot anything about family, money, relationship.

  Only one thing was working on the mind that was anyhow we had to reach the destination. It was noon. Sun was shining with full concentration. We left Jojiwal and reached Nagakoti. To take some food, we entered Vishal Vandara from Delhi. Foods eg. Rice, Dal, Veg-Curry, Puri, Sweets were served here at Buffet system. There was also a temporary restroom at one side of the Vandara. Some pilgrims after taking foods were resting here. But no one took much time here because All of them had to reach Shesnag before daylight ends. We started walking again. The plane just ends here. Mountainous roads start again. We needed hiking poles to walk. While walking we again got a chance to go along with Lidder river. It was at 5 o' clock. We had still 2 hours before light ends. We arrived in the bank of Shesnag lake.

 It seemed like 7 mountains wearing white crowns guarding the lake. Deep Blue coloured lake. It was looking too much beautiful. As we had to go further, we didn't take much time there. We started walking again. We saw many colourful tents far from us. We had to go there. At last at 8 pm we reached the gate. Daylight totally ended that time. There were high-security militaries in front of the gate. They at first checked our boarding pass then checked our bags, mobiles, cameras ... all. As daylight was gone, winter fell across the region heavily. It was very hard to seek our tent no. 140 in that low light region. At last, we succeded. Keeping our shoes aside we came under our blankets. I was trembling in winter. the temp. was 3 degree. After taking a long rest, at 3 a.m. I came out of the tent though the weather was so cool.

 I saw the most amazing nature. It was awfully awesome. Moonlight, slowly cool breeze, foggy atmosphere increased the beauty of nature by a factor of a thousand times. It is 11730 ft. from the sea level & the beauty I enjoyed was amazing. I thought I was in heaven. Snow-covered mountains & the valley was looking very nice. After a while, I again came back to my tent.

From Shesnag to Mahagunas Pass

    Though evening comes late, dawn comes early in this region. Sangam is 17 km on road distance from here. We rose up early in the morning & aimed to go up to Sangam before daylight ends. Snow-covered mountains were looking great in the sweet sunshine.
 

   After taking a cup of tea at Vandara we started our journey. We decided to go up to Mahagunas pass (14500 ft) on horse riding. It was for the 2nd time, I rode on a horse. As usual, I gained some courage to stay on the horse. This time I was so much comfortable that, I started to click photos while riding on the horse!
 

    Chatting with horseman we covered a long distance. Our road was beside a glacier. After the ending of the Glacier, we got off the horse as the road became too much narrow. The only way to go through this road was to go on foot or on Dully riding.

    After a turning point, the road became too much steep. It was too much risk for me to go forward. I sill was slipping on the road. So I started to crawl on the road. Seeing me at that moment, a military man raised his hand to help me. Anyhow with his help, I succeded to end up the road. The name of the place is Warbal which was known as Bayuzan in past. It was noon. Sun was shining in the deep blue sky. The cold breeze was blowing. We saw many tents here. Many pilgrims stay here at night. But as our destination was Sangam, we started walking again. We saw Mahagunas Pass from the place.

   We started riding on the horse again. Keeping a deep canyon aside we covered the distance riding on the horse & reached Mahagunas Top.

  

Mahagunas Pass to Panchtarani

   Mahagunas 14500 ft from MSL. For hose riding pilgrims, it is the last stop. While passing through a military canteen, we got hot water to drink. There was also a medical camp nearby. A physician checked my body & said that I was fit for the journey. 10 years ago, some terrorists fired 5 pilgrims on this spot. After that, a military base camp is founded here. There we met a Bengali military, Ardhendu Dutta. He is from Bardhaman, a state of West Bengal. He said that this year when the session began, the height of the Shivling was 12 ft, now it became 5-6 ft.  While going through the road, we met some monks. I personally talked with one of them. He is from Varanasi. I also clicked a photo of him. After passing the top, the road became down. From a military, we came to know that the temperature of the place was 4-degree last night. If you come here, you will see that the whole valley is controlled by soldiers only for the safety of the pilgrims. Seeing a Bandara, we entered. The name of the Bandara was Pouspatri. We took lunch. The menu was the same. After taking lunch, we took tea. The weather became worse. It rained cats & dogs with heavy lightning. We all became frightened. After the rain became slow, we started walking with umbrellas by packing our luggage in plastics. When we came near the river Swachhsalila, we stopped by military men. the bridge over the river was of bad condition.

  So, according to their advice, we started going one by one to cross the bridge. The road became narrow. It was hard to walk on this road. For heavy rain, the road became clayed. We were slipping on the road. Anyhow, we reached Panchtarani. It was 4.30 in the afternoon. Sangam is 3 km from here. We increased our walking speed. But alas! the gate closed before time. Usually, the gate is closed at 5 pm. But on that day, it closed one hour before for bad weather. So, we came to Panchtarani again & started seeking for tents for the night stay.

Panchtarani to Sangam

    It was 6 o' clock in the afternoon. After booking our tent, we came to a Bandara. We took tea there. The previous day at night the temperature was 2 degree. At 8 pm we came to Bandara again for dinner. At 9 pm we came back to our tent for sleep. 

     We woke up early at about 5 am. We became ready to go within minutes. We planned to reach the holy cave & came back on that day. But heavy rain stopped us. About 8 am. we started walking. As it rained, the roads became clayed. we couldn't walk. By the day we lost our important few hours. So, we decided to ride on the horse. By horse riding, we came to Sangam.

Sangam to Holy Cave

    The name of the place is Sangam. It is a snow-covered valley. From here the holy cave is 3 km. Previously, I said that there are 2 ways to reach Amarnath. These 2 ways meet here. All pilgrims have to walk this 3 km to enter the holy cave.

   This is a strict rule. Though it is not valid for handicapped. We saw the holy cave from the place. Seeing that, it made me too much active. I saw the Amar Ganga river coming from there. There were many shops on two sides of the road for around 1 km. 

We entered one. When my co-travellers were busy to buy the essential things for the puja, I came near the river. How beautiful, the river was looking! The most crystal clear water of the river, I have ever seen! In that time I did something incredible! I came to the shop & put off my clothes. Wearing a towel, carrying a glass I came to the river again. Though my co-travellers forbade me, I didn't hear them. I dipped my two legs in the water. Firstly, I felt that I had lost my legs. But after a moment, all hesitations got out. I bathed in that -2-degree water! All laziness vanished. Seeing me too much active after the bath, my co-travellers did the same. With a fresh mind, new power carrying the pujordali we started walking again.

                                   

  The military men stopped us. They took the cameras, mobiles, belts, pen, combs and all other suspicious things from us. Walking for a while, I saw 2 stairlike routes. The right one is for entrance & the other one is to exist. Stairsteps were much steep. After got off the stairs, I entered the cave.

In the Holy Cave

    There were not many people in the cave. So, just entering the cave, we came to the ICE GOD. In the outer vision, he is just a 5-6 ft replica but in the inner vision, he is amazing, not only in shape but also in power. I felt power. At that moment, closing my eyes I came back to 50 years ago. I dreamt what I actually saw in a dream, 50 years ago ie. There were many steep stairs in front of me. I was trying my best. When only 2 or 3 steps were left, I saw God. Wearing tiger skin, keeping Trishul in right hand & Kamandulu in the left hand, he was standing on the highest step. Seeing me, he kept Trishul aside & raised his right hand to me. Then, he picked up me. So, it was that dream. Giving the pujardali to the priest, I went further. I saw 2 other small snow statues beside the Amarnath. The middle one is Goddess Laxmi & another one is God Ganesh. I went to a step-down. I saw one white pigeon in the groove of the cave. Seeing one pigeon I was seeking another. But I didn't find out another. 

  

   From the roof of the cave, some water drops were falling. Pilgrims were taking it as Charanamrit. I also took one or two drops on my tongue. It was very cool. I saw the water drops, which were falling on the Amarnath Ji, being cooled got transferred into ice. As military men made us hurry, we came down & left the cave. There was a small plane spot in front of the cave. The plane was filled with monks. some were wearing white clothes & others were wearing saffron-coloured clothes. At last with an unhappy mood, we came back to the military camp to collect our purses, mobiles, belts & other things kept by them. We heard that in that season till the date 70 pilgrims died.

Coming Back

  Keeping Amar Ganga at the left, we started to walk & reached Sangam. Here seeing pilgrims you can say if they are going or coming back by observing their body language. Returning people are sad & other people are totally opposite. From Sangam, we took another road to return.

 
   Arriving people had only one question to the returning people ie. they would see the Shivling or not & what was the height of the Shivling. Walking 4 km, we reached Baradi Marg. We kept walking. It was noon & the Sun was shining with full concentration. We took lemon water from a shop. Walking for a few hours, we reached Domel. We took tea in a Bandara there. In the evening, we reached Baltal. It is situated at the foothills of Nanga Parvat. It was looking very awesome in the evening. Weather was very comfortable. Srinagar is 75 km from here. We were seeking for a car to go to Srinagar. By default, we got a car. We reached Srinagar at 11.30 pm. On the next day, we went to Jammu & took our home returning train.

 

Disclaimer

   The whole content that I wrote is not my personal experience. I never went to Amarnath. But I will. It's one of my dreams. I actually translated the Bengali book named "ICE GODER SANDHANE", written by G. Jana, my grandpa.

 But I didn't translate the book thoroughly, line by line. I just took the content from the book.
Photo Credit:  Asit Guria
                         G. Jana

  Hope you loved it.