Srinagar, Aug 10 (IANS): The one-and-half month long annual Amarnath Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir ended peacefully Sunday, officials said. Nearly 400,000 pilgrims visited the shrine.
The final 'puja' was offered inside the Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Sunday morning after the 'Chahri Mubarak' (Lord Shiva's mace) reached the shrine.
The Chahri Mubarak was carried by its custodian Swami Dipinder Giri in a procession of sadhus and other devotees from its seat here to the shrine.
"The final puja has been performed today (Sunday)...with this, the year's pilgrimage to the shrine has come to an end," Giri told IANS.
"We will hold another puja by the banks of the Lidder stream in Pahalgam town where the sadhus will be fed after which the Chahri Mubarak will be taken back to its seat in Srinagar," Giri added.
Governor N.N. Vohra who is the chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) also visited the shrine. SASB manages the affairs of the yatra.
Officials said around 400,000 yatris from all over the country visited Amarnath.
Barring a scuffle between a community kitchen cook and a local that triggered burning of 10 community kitchens and over 300 tents at the Baltal base camp, the yatra was free of any militancy related incident, officials added.
The yatra started June 28 from the Baltal and June 30 from the Pahalgam base camps.