Amar Nath Cave-Kashmir

Amar Nath Cave 

Location: 145 km from Srinagar, Kashmir Region

Altitude: 4,175m (13,700ft). Darshan Season: July To August One of the holy Trinity, Shiva, is a living God. The most sacred and the most ancient book of India, the 'Rig Veda" evokes his presence in its hymns. Vedic myths, rituals and even astronomy testify to his existence from the dawn of time. But Shiva, Destroyer, the mendicant, is indefinable. AMARNATH CAVE The Yatra (pilgrimage) on foot to Amarnath Cave, considered one of the holiest naturally occurring shrines of the Hindu faith, has continued annually for little more than a hundred years. Extending up 130 feet, the Amarnath Cave is high and shallow. A Linga Of Ice Inside the large opening, behind an open-gated iron fence, an underground trickle of water emerges 10 feet up from a small cleft in the sedimentary rock and freezes s it drips to form a small cleft in the sedimentary rock and freezes as it drips to form a tall, smooth cone of ice. This cone was originally called "the formless form", but it has come to have another symbolism. The ice figure is believed to be a Lings (also spelt as Lingam), a manifestation of the Lord Shiva's phallus. On the full moon of the Sawan month, in July or August, tens of thousands of yatris (also called pilgrims), walk from Pahalgam to view the Ice phallus and make offerings of food, money, sweets, and garlands of flowers before it.

Amarnath: The Icy Abode of Shiva

High in Kashmir’s rugged embrace,
Where heaven and earth in whispers grace,
Stands Amarnath, the cave divine,
Where frozen light and faith entwine.

A trek of zeal, a pilgrim’s might,
Through mist-clad trails and starry night,
From Srinagar’s vale, so far, so steep,
To where the gods in silence sleep.

Four thousand meters touch the sky,
Where mortal breath turns thin and shy,
Yet hearts burn fierce with fervent prayer,
To meet the Lord who waits them there.

Within the cave, so vast, so cold,
A miracle of ice unfolds—
A Linga bright, by drops conceived,
Where Shiva’s form is half-believed.

From ancient hymns to Vedic lore,
The Destroyer’s might we still adore,
Yet here He stands, in frozen flame,
Both formless form and sacred name.

When Sawan’s moon hangs full and bright,
A sea of faith bathed in its light,
They come with flowers, sweets, and gold,
To seek the truth the sages told.

Oh Amarnath! Thy mystic shrine,
Where earth and eternity align,
Not just a cave, but heaven’s door—
Where Shiva dwells forevermore.

Sundra

Sham Misri