Amarnath temple

"See also" amarnath land transfer controversy for 2008 Jammu and Kashmir protests"

Infobox Mandir

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creator = Baba Amarnath
proper_name = Cave Temple of Lord Amarnath ji
primary_deity = Amarnath (Shiva)
architecture =
location = Amarnath, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Amarnath caves ( _hi. अमरनाथ गुफा, _ur. امرناتھ گُپھا) are one of the most famous shrines in Hinduism, dedicated to the god Shiva, located in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The shrine is claimed to be over 5,000 years old and forms an important part of ancient Hindu mythology.cite news |work=The Hindu |date=2005-05-30
url= http://www.hindu.com/2005/05/30/stories/2005053009340300.htm
title = New shrine on Amarnath route]

Inside the main Amarnath cave lies an ice stalagmite resembling the Shiva Linga, which waxes during May to August and gradually wanes thereafter.cite web
url = http://www.jktourism.org/cities/kashmir/amarnath/index.htm
title = Amarnathji Yatra - a journey into faith |work=Official Web Site of Jammu and Kashmir Tourism] This lingam is said to grow and shrink with the phases of the moon, reaching its height during the summer festival. [Ortner, Jon. [http://www.pdngallery.com/cobrand/nikonnet/ontheroad/jon_ortner/ortner_bio.html On the road again] . "PDN Gallery".] According to Hindu mythology, this is the cave where Shiva explained the secret of life and eternity to his divine consort Parvati. [cite web
url = http://www.amarnathyatra.org/legend.htm#top |work=Bhole Bhandari Charitable Trust
title = Amarnath Cave - The legend] There are two other ice formations representing Parvati and Shiva's son, Ganesha.

The cave is situated at an altitude of convert|3888|m|abbr=on, about convert|141|km|abbr=on from Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir. The Central Reserve Police Force, Indian Army and Indian Paramilitary Forces maintain a strong presence in the region due to concerns of security [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2176165.stm] and hence prior permission is needed from the Government of India before making a pilgrimage.

History

The earliest reference to Amarnath can be seen in the Nilamata Purana (v.1324), a 6th century Sanskrit text which depicts the religious and cultural life of early Kashmiris and gives Kashmir’s own creation myth. The pilgrimage to the holy cave has been described with full topographical details in the Bhringish Samhita and the Amarnatha Mahatmya, both ancient texts said to have been composed even earlier. References to Amarnath appear in historical chronicles like the Rajatarangini and its sequels and several Western travellers’ accountsFact|date=August 2008. The original name of the tirtha, as given in the ancient texts, is Amareshwara,Fact|date=August 2008 Amarnath being a later name. Fact|date=August 2008

Giving the legend of the Naga Sushruvas, who in his fury burnt to ashes the kingdom of King Nara when he tried to abduct his daughter already married to a Brahmin youth, and after the carnage took his abode in the lake now known as Sheshnag (Kashmiri Sushramnag), Kalahana writes:

“The lake of dazzling whiteness [resembling] a sea of milk (Sheshnag), which he created [for himself as residence] on a far off mountain, is to the present day seen by the people on the pilgrimage to Amareshwara.”(Rajatarangini, Book I v. 267.Translation: M. A. Stein).

At another place in the Rajatarangini (Book II v. 138), Kalhana says that King Samdhimat Aryaraja (34 BCE-17CE) used to spend “the most delightful Kashmir summer” in worshiping a lingam formed of snow/ice “in the regions above the forests”. This too appears to be a reference to the ice lingam at Amarnath. There is yet another reference to Amareshwara or Amarnath in the Rajatarangini (Book VII v.183). According to Kalhana, Queen Suryamati, the wife of King Ananta (1028-1063), “granted under her husband’s name agraharas at Amareshwara, and arranged for the consecration of trishulas, banalingas and other [sacred emblems] ”.

In his Chronicle of Kashmir, a sequel to Kalhana’s Rajatarangini, Jonaraja relates that that Sultan Zainu’l-abidin (1420-1470) paid a visit to the sacred tirtha of Amarnath while constructing a canal on the left bank of the river Lidder (vv.1232-1234).Fact|date=August 2008 The canal is now known as Shah Kol.

In the Fourth Chronicle named Rajavalipataka, which was begun by Prjayabhatta and completed by Shuka, there is a clear and detailed reference to the pilgrimage to the sacred site (v.841,vv. 847-849). According to it, in a reply to Akbar’s query about Kashmir Yusuf Khan, the Mughal governor of Kashmir at that time, described among other things the Amarnath Yatra in full detail.

Amareshwar (Amarnath) was a famous pilgrimage place in the time of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan also. In his eulogy of Shah Jahan’s father-in-law Asif Khan, titled “Asaf Vilas”, the famous Sanskrit scholar and aesthete Panditraj Jagannath makes clear mention of Amareshwara (Amarnath) while describing the Mughal garden Nishat laid out by Asif Khan. The King of gods Indra himself, he says, comes here to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva”.Fact|date=August 2008

Francois Bernier, a French physician, accompanied Emperor Aurangzeb during his visit to Kashmir in 1663. In his book “Travels in the Mughal Empire”, he writes an account of the places he visited in Kashmir that he was “pursuing journey to a grotto full of wonderful congelations, two days journey from Sangsafed” when he “received intelligence that my Nawab felt very impatient and uneasy on account of my long absence”. The editor of the second edition of the English translation of the book, Vincient A. Smith, writes in his introduction: “The grotto full of wonderful congelations is the Amarnath cave, where blocks of ice, stalagmites formed by dripping water from the roof are worshipped by many Hindus who resort here as images of Shiva…..” Fact|date=August 2008

Another traveler, Vigne, in his book “Travels in Kashmir, Ladakh and Iskardu” writes about the pilgrimage to the sacred spot in detail, mentioning that “the ceremony at the cave of Amarnath takes place on the 15th of the Hindoo month of Sawan” and that “not only Hindoos of every rank and caste can be seen collecting together and traveling up the valley of Liddar towards the celebrated cave……” Fact|date=August 2008 Vigne visited Kashmir after his return from Ladakh in 1840-41 and published his book in 1842. His book claims that the Amarnath Yatra drew pilgrims from the whole of India in his time and was undertaken with great enthusiasm.Fact|date=August 2008

Guru Arjan Dev is said to have granted land in Amritsar for the ceremonial departure of Chari, the holy mace of Lord Shiva which marks the beginning of the Yatra to the Holy Cave.Fact|date=August 2008 In 1819, the year in which the Afghan rule came to an end in Kashmir, Pandit Hardas Tiku “founded the Chhawni Anmarnath at Ram Bagh in Srinagar where the Sadhus from the plains assembled and where he gave them free rations for the journey, both ways from his own private resources”, as the noted Kashmiri naturalist Pandit Samsar Chand Kaul has pointed out in his booklet titled “The Mysterious cave of Amarnath”.Fact|date=August 2008

Amarnath is deeply enshrined in Kashmiri folklore, such as the story of Soda Wony.Fact|date=August 2008

The temple is reported to be about 5,000 years old and was mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. The exact manner of discovery of the cave is not known.Fact|date=August 2008

The Amarnath Yatra, according to Hindu belief, begins on "Ashadha Purnima" (day of the Full Moon in the Hindu Month of Ashadha) and ends on "Shravana Purnima" (day of the full moon in the Hindu month of Shravana).Fact|date=August 2008

= Pilgr

It is a popular pilgrimage destination for Hindus - about 400,000 people [cite news |first=Luv |last=Puri |work=The Hindu |date=2005-04-17
url = http://www.hindu.com/2005/04/17/stories/2005041706750700.htm
title = Amarnath Yatra: court vests authority with shrine board] visit during the 45-day season around the festival of Shravani Mela in July-August, coinciding with the Hindu holy month of Shravan.

Devotees generally take the convert|42|km|abbr=on pilgrimage on foot from the town of Pahalgam, about convert|96|km|abbr=on from Srinagar, and cover the journey in four to five days. There are two alternate routes to the temple: the longer and more traditional path from Srinagar, and the shorter route from the town of Baltal. Some devotees, particularly the elderly, also ride on horse-back to make the journey.

Related to the history of amarnathhttp://thekashmir.wordpress.com/2008/07/05/amarnath/

Terrorist threat

The cave is situated on an area where terrorists and bandits were very active about a decade ago, however the situation has considerably eased recently. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2176165.stm The pilgrimage to Amarnath] . "BBC News". 2002-08-06.]

2007 melting controversy

Shree Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) former chief executive officer Arun Kumar was reported in "The Hindu" as saying "The Shivlingam has melted owing to the rise in temperatures. It is a normal phenomenon; weather affects its shape and size". [ [http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/02/stories/2007070255051300.htm Amarnath yatra begins, ice lingam melts completely] . "The Hindu". 2007-07-02.] The other ice lingams had not completely melted. Many environmentalists blamed global warming for the incident. [Chatterjee, Kathakali. [http://urbansemiotic.com/2007/07/09/globalwarmingandamarnaththeholycaveinindia/ Global Warming and Amarnath] . "David W. Boles' Urban Semiotic". 2007-07-09.] The SASB has authorized the installation of a cooling system to preserve the formations in coming years. [http://infochangeindia.org/200805137131/Environment/News/Amarnath-cave-to-be-refrigerated-to-stop-lingam-from-melting.html refridgeration system authorized, retrieved 2008-07-09]

Land transfer controversy

:"see" amarnath land transfer imbroglio "for full article on the controversy"

On 26 May,2008, the Government of India and the state government of Jammu and Kashmir reached an agreement to transfer convert|100|acre|km2 of forest land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) [http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=451819&sid=NAT] to set up temporary shelters and facilities for Hindu pilgrims. Kashmiri separatists opposed the move and there were widespread protests in Kashmir. [http://specials.rediff.com/news/2008/aug/07guest.htm.] Due to the protests, the J&K State government relented and reversed the decision to transfer land. As a result, Hindus in the Jammu region launched counter-agitations against this roll back. [www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080060109&ch=633535592587530000]

References

External links

* [http://www.jyotirlinga.com Virtual Lord Shiva Darshan and pilgrimage with videos and images]
* [http://www.amarnathyatra.org/ The temple's homepage managed by the temple trust]
* [http://www.liveindia.com/amarnath/index.html Amarnath Virtual Tours with Gallery]
* [http://www.jktourism.org/cities/kashmir/amarnath/index.htm Jammu and Kashmir tourism page]
* [http://www.travelchacha.com/yatra/amarnath-yatra.htm Amarnath Yatra Route]
* [http://www.cultureholidays.com/Temples/amarnath.htm Amarnath Cave Yatra Temple Jammu Kashmir]
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