Truth about Holy Amarnath Cave and the Yatra

Hi Bloggers,

I got these comments from one of the bloggers and my response is given below.

Some points for thought!

1. The shrine was discovered by a Kashmiri Muslim.

Reply: According to legend, when Kashyap Reshi drained the Kashmir valley of water (it was believed to have been a vast lake), the cave and the lingam were discovered by Bregish Reshi who was travelling the Himalayas. When people heard of the lingam, Amarnath for them became Shiva's abode and a centre of pilgrimage.

Then it was rediscovered by a Muslim shepherd named Buta Malik who was given a sack of coal by a sadhu. Upon reaching home he discovered that the sack, in fact, contained gold. Overjoyed and overcome, Buta Malik rushed back to look for the sadhu and thank him, but on the spot of their meeting discovered a cave, and eventually this became a place of pilgrimage for all believers. To date, a percentage of the donations made by pilgrims are given to the descendants of Malik and the remaining to the trust which manages the shrine.

As the history of Kashmir goes back to the days to Sharda Peeth, Kalhan’s Raj Tarangni and the fact that Kashmir was a major centre of learning for the Shivite School of thought, the probability of the cave being discovered earlier also remain. It however should not be an issue to score brownie points but to understand that the history of Kashmir is ancient and way beyond what is being taught to the kids in the valley.

There is ample and conclusive historical evidence, on the other hand, to prove that the holy cave and the ice lingam were known to the people since very ancient times and have been continuously and regularly visited by pilgrims not only from Kashmir but also from different parts of India.

“While 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, known have also been made in historical chronicles like the Rajatarangini and its sequels and several Western travellers’ accounts also leaving no doubt about the fact that the holy cave has been known to people for centuries. The original name of the tirtha, as given in the ancient texts, is of course Amareshwara, Amarnath being a name given later to it.

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).

This makes it very clear that pilgrims continued to visit the holy Amarnath cave in the 12th century, for Kalhana wrote his chronicle in the years1148-49.

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 linga formed of snow “in the regions above the forests”. This too appears to be a reference to the ice linga 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). 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. His description shows that the not only was the pilgrimage in vogue in Akbar’s time - Akbar annexed Kashmir in 1586 - but the phenomenon of waxing and waning of the ice linga was also well known.

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”.

As we well know Francois Bernier, a French physician accompanied Emperor Aurangzeb during his visit to Kashmir in 1663. In his book “Travels in Mughal Empire” he writes while giving an account 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 “grotto” he refers to is obviously the Amarnath cave as the editor of the second edition of the English translation of the book, Vincient A. Smith makes clear in his introduction. He writes: “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…..”

Another traveler, Vigne, in his book “Travels in Kashmir, Ladakh and Iskardu” writes about the pilgrimage to the sacred spot in detail, clearly 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……” Vigne visited Kashmir after his return from Ladakh in 1840-41 and published his book in 1842. His book makes it very clear that the Amarnath Yatra drew pilgrims from the whole of India in his time and was undertaken with great enthusiasm.

Again, the great Sikh 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. 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”.

2. The Yatra has always been conducted by Kashmiri Muslims.

Reply: Yes the yatra has been supported by the Malik family descendents but not conducted by them.

3. No Yatri was ever harmed by a Kashmiri Muslim.

Reply: Yes, numerous. Even this year some were killed at Bus Stand (5), grenade attack at Gulmarg, etc. Here are only some of them from previous years, it is a long list but i have taken only 3 years;

2000: At least 25 persons, including 16 Amarnath pilgrims were killed and 60 others were injured in an attack by militants at Pahalgam base camp.

2001: Twelve persons, including three women pilgrims and two police officials, were killed and 15 injured when a militant hurled two grenades at a camp and later fired indiscriminately near the holy cave.

2002: Two pilgrims were killed and two others injured when militants threw a grenade and later opened fire on a group of devotees in Jammu ahead of their trek to Amarnath cave shrine.

Twenty four persons were injured in a powerful grenade attack by suspected militants at a bus station on the route of the Amarnath pilgrimage.

A devotee and a taxi driver were killed and three injured when suspected militants lobbed a grenade in Anantnag along the pilgrim route.

Eight persons were killed and 27 wounded in an attack by militants on a base camp at Nunwan.

4. This year, we had record number of Yatris (more than 300,000) visiting the holy Shrine.

Reply: Yes, that is good but it has nothing to do with the valley as the arrangements are done by the SASB. Generally Yatra’s world over are matter of faith and people endure great hardship to complete them. Kashmir being part of India, 300,000 or 3 million is no big deal.

5. Each and every Yatri had praises for the locals who fed them in spite of scanty supplies due to the economic blockage of the highway.

Reply: Well, that is what was the great sufi kashmiri culture that Paki’s wanted to destroy. This was the culture of Lal Ded and Rishi peer. This was the culture where hindus celebrated the 3 day Herath festival (shivratri) with the next day as Salam for their Muslim neighbours. This was the valley which not only fed but gave alms to one and all inculuding hindu sadhu’s coming or going to the cave.

6. Entire country including the 300,000 Yatris are fully satisfied with the arrangements.

Reply: Well, the arrangements were done by SASB.

7. A handful of communal elements at Jammu have a problem.

Reply: It is not as our P.M say “an issue of modalities”. It is a decision of how people will be treated. 400,000 pandits were forced out of their land, 361 were killed, their temples destroyed and sahbir shah, sajjad lone, yasin mailk and their likes are saying that Jammu has communal elements. Well it is like Pakistan accusing India of supporting Taliban.

8. The local Jammu Dogra has never in history protested like this.

Reply: Well that is the point, their patience has now broken and the last straw in the camels backs was Omar Abdullah’s speech in the parliament. It is he who shouted “it is OUR LAND and we will die but not give it away”. How dare he, Kashmiri Pandits were the original inhabitants of the land and by saying so he has proved that he no sense or understanding of history. Clarifying that he meant all of J&K, well please do not lie now. If state subject was the issue, how come land was transferred to Railways, Airports Authourity, NHPC, HMT, Centaur, etc.

9. Some of the people who migrated from valley more than decade ago see this as an opportunity to take a revenge to rout out Muslims from Jammu

Reply: Well again you are missing the point. Surely 20 years is a long time to take revenge. It is akin to agreeing that temporary structures 13000 feet at Baltal can be used for changing the demographic’s of the valley.

10. The Jammu Dogras have fallen prey to the game plan.

Reply: same as above. Sadly, you are missing the point.

11. Who is benefiting from the protests?

Reply: Sometimes, protests are done without immediate gains. What will be gained is that the fact that Kashmiri’s have got too much without doing anything. How many pay taxes- state or central, pay for their electricity bills, etc. The formula of aid dispersal for rest of India is 75% loan and 25% grant, whereas Kashmir it is 75% grant and 25% loan (even that is not repaid back).

12. Our soldiers have laid down their lives fighting militants to keep the National Highway open for the past 20 years.

Reply: Yes, that is the point. The Highway is a scared piece if land for all and we cannot allow it to be used to pump in secessionist elements. Just for your information, an R.O.P (road opening party) of the army clearing the highway, starts their day at 4AM in the morning and ends it at 12PM midnight. It is too holy for anyone to understand. Hopefully the people would now realise how much it takes to keep the lifeline open. Troops can always be flown in as they have been for such a long time, it is common people who will suffer if disruptions occur.

13. Whose cause are people at Jammu supporting?

Reply: They are fighting for the cause of India and the right of an Indian over secessionists.

14. Kashmiri Leaders want a unified state including Jammu/Kashmir/POK/Ladakh

Reply: Sorry but that is not a consolation. It is and will remain unified as per the 1947 agreed boundaries. It is the writ of the Parliament that the P.O.K been taken back from Pakistan. Please read the pre 1947 history of J&K and the exploits of Maharaja Gulab Singh and how Indian have a claim over the entire state of J&K.

15. Protestors at Jammu want separate Jammu, Separate Kashmir, Separate KP Land, Separate Ladakh and maybe further slices of the flesh of our motherland.

Reply: Haven’t heard that but there will always be multiple view points and that is the corner stone of democracy. People in valley who have been following nizam e Mustafa cannot and will not understand what a pluralistic society is. After all they forced out 400,000 people out of the valley by the fear of gun to enforce their singular point of view. Imagine an entire generation of people growing up in a place where there are no minorities left. Most of the over 20 year olds in the valley have not even seen what Diwali, Herath, Nevreh or any other minority festival is like and that is the root cause of all these problems.

If this was not the case, tell me one conflict where the state has suffered so much in spite of their claim being backed by history that Pandits were the original inhabitants of the valley. The problem is the fact that people in the valley are not used to the other side reacting back and this is what has really puzzled them. It was always this Paki notion of a superior race being fed into the valley people which has now turned back to haunt them.

For 60 years Paki’s have fed into the people of valley a sense of utopia something which can only be compared to the communist. A false sense of bravado and beliefs. If you take a step back and understand that a nation who is number 6 or 7 in the list of failed states has not right to talk to India about running a nation or handling it’s conflicts. What they did to Lal Masjid, their use of gunships and missles against Tribal people, balti’s and balouch is well known. It is a country that sold its people to America for as less as 1000$$ and sent them to guantanamo bay and other American prisons.

Have a look at these 2 links and you would understand what I am trying to say. Have a look at this gentleman Amanullah Khan part I and II who was once the so called great freedom fighter of Kashmiri’s and what he has been reduced to. He is also talking of utopia but look at the fear in his speech when he says something about the Pakistan Army and ISI. He is senile but looking at his position you feel nothing but sad. This is what happens to someone who is backed by Paki’s.

Have a look at all this and then decide for yourself which way to go!