Amarnath: Cave of the deities

The Amarnath Temple cave in Jammu and Kashmir is believed to be around 5000 years old. According to Puranas, the throat of Devi Sati fell here resulted in the formation of the Shakti Peeth. The Devi resides here as Shakti Mahamayi accompanied by Bhairav as Trisandhyeshwar.

The temple has a presence in the form of an ice lingam of Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesh, Lord Bhairav, and Goddess Parvati. It is said that the two pigeons in the cave became immortal when they heard Lord Shiva sharing the secret of immortality with Goddess Parvati. Here, Lord Shiva is also known as Baba Barfani. As per few beliefs, In 1850, a Muslim shepherd named Buta Malik, while grazing his cattle in the mountain, got a bag full of coal from a Sufi saint, which later turned to gold. He returned to thank the Saint but instead found the cave and the Shivalinga.

Located in Pahalgam about 145 kilometers east of the Srinagar in the snowy mountains at a height of 4000 meters where the temperature here can dip to minus 5 degrees Celsius. The temple is open for tourists in the Hindu month of Shravan around July/ August. Tourists need to get a ‘yatra permit’ to visit Amarnath Temple and follow instructions available on jksasb.nic.in. Due to harsh weather conditions, people need a medical certificate to get a permit. Children under 13 years, adults above 75 years of age, or women more than 6 months pregnant are prohibited from taking the tour.

Cover Image by Gktambe at English Wikipedia – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Furfur using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4289822