CONTROVERSY

By: -Vikas Manhas

Save Amarnath from Dieing

The Ice Lingam at Amarnath cave in South Kashmir representing Lord Shiva is melting and it may fully melt when the actual time to have its holy darshans on Raksha-bandhan arrives. The practice of visiting Amarnath cave and paying obeisance to the ice lingam is quite old. Before becoming a Board with the State Governor as its head, the Amarnath yatra used to be a peaceful event fully occupied with religious faith and fervor, but now it has become a commercial event diluting its religious sanctity. During the pilgrimage  Langers are  organised; helicopters  are  engaged and yatra period has been extended thereby converting the sacred place in to a commercial hub adversely polluting the environmental as well as religious atmosphere of the Cave.

Originally, a limited number of devotees would come to pay obeisance to the naturally formed Ice Lingam, which would traditionally be in its full size and form on the auspicious day of Rakshabandhan. But with extended yatra period number of visiting devotees has enormously swelled thereby increasing the temperature in and around the Cave that is causing melting of the holy Ice Lingam.

When Mufti Sayeed was the CM he had advised the Amarnath Shrine Board not to extend the yatra period beyond one month. He had also resented against Board’s decision of making frequent use of helicopter service and organizing  free Langers en-route believing that whereas use of helicopter service and extended period of yatra would create pollution hazards, the free Langers will snatch from the locals the opportunity to earn something during the yatra. And he was not wrong  any way. Today, even the  custodian of the holy mace of Lord Shiva and the spiritual head of Amarnath yatra, Mahant Deepinder Giri is saying the same thing though he had opposed the Mufti on the pretext that being a Muslim he was  interfering in the religious matters of Hindus. At that time everybody had supported the vocal State Governor who heads the Amarnath Shrine Board also against the CM on this issue, but all of them have started realizing now that he too has been commercializing the yatra instead of preserving its religious sanctity.

Amarnath Yatra has been a traditional pilgrimage of Kashmir wherein not only Hindus, Muslims also would take part. Kashmiris would make a long wait for the yatra to commence because it would provide them an opportunity to earn something for their children. They would raise temporary sheds and serve pilgrims with food and tea. The ponnywallas would help old and infirm to reach the destination and earn something for themselves. The event therefore would bring some prosperity to the locals besides making relations between the devotees and the locals, mostly Muslims thicker and warmer, which is the essence of the yatra. Now when militancy has broken this thread of trust it is imperative  that the same be restored. If we talk about revival of Sofism and traditional brotherhood in Kashmir, we should try to revive the old practice adopted during Amarnath Yatra also because this too is an integral part of Kashmir’s  cultural heritage. Let Langers be stopped, let helicopter service be confined to old and infirm and let everything that contributes in the raising of temperature in the Cave be stopped as has already been recommended by the one man commission headed by Justice KK Gupta on the subject.

The Amarnath Shrine Board might be deriving pride from huge profits that it has been making out of the Yatra, but the matter of the fact is that it is doing disservice to the holy pilgrimage because due to its materialistic approach it has been damaging the spiritual as well social aspect of the holy pilgrimage.