The Amarnath Cave is famous for the natural formation of Shiva Linga from the snow. A large number of devotees visit the Holy Amarnath Cave from June to August every year. The Amarnath Yatra begins from ChandanWwadi, which is about sixteen kilometres from Pahalgam, via Sheshnag and Panchtarni, and concludes at The Amarnath Cave situated on the Amarnath mountain. Another route is via Baltal and Sonamarg. Amarnath Temple is believed to be the earthly abode of Lord Shiva, and is at a height of 3888 m.
The Cave was discovered by a Muslim shepherd of Batakot, Buta Malik, when he lost his flock in the mountains. Francois Bernier, a French physician, accompanied Emperor Aurangzeb during his visit to Kashmir in 1663. In his book “Travels in Mughal Empire”, while giving an account of the places he visited in Kashmir, he made an important mention of the Amarnath Cave. The great Sikh Guru, Arjan Dev, is said to have granted land in Amritsar for the ceremonial departure of Chari Mubarak, the holy mace of Lord Shiva which marks the beginning of the Yatra to the Holy Cave . The Amarnath Cave is deeply enshrined in the Kashmiri folklore.
The Indian Express published an article named “Jammu and Kashmir only state with zero crime record against tourists : Officials”, on 23rd February 2018 . Except last year’s unfortunate attack on Amarnath yatris, there has not been any instance of violence in the tourism corridor of the state. In 2016, despite unrest in the valley, a total of 2.20 lakh pilgrims paid homage to the shrine of Amarnath.
When one of the important newspapers of India states that there is not any incidence of violence against any tourist or any yatri, then many questions arise in the minds of people of Jammu and Kashmir : What is the need to keep security personnel at a distance of about few meters starting from Srinagar entirely up to the Holy cave? Is the cause only the concern about the security of the pilgrims or, anything else which serves as an excuse to the increasing deployment of security forces in the valley, the number of which is already an outrageous figure of above seven lakh. The increase in the number of security forces not only increases the burden on the exchequer of the state and center, but also manifolds the day to day problems of people. They have to face a lot of barricades in between when passing these routes, and wait for hours together whereas the security forces convoy is given preference to pass, keeping their security in priority. We know that we are one of most unfortunate lot in this world and are suffering with problems which increase by the passing of each and every day in this conflicted situation. There are a number of factors which play their part in every act in our state. There is no doubt that the life of every Yatri is precious and valuable, but we have a right to raise our voice against anything that is not generally favorable for the public which happens in our state. As a rise in the temperature is being experienced in the form of climate change nowadays, we should be more careful towards our environment. The people in Germany use bicycles to reach their university but we are adding more and more cars to our roads because Oh, wouldn’t it be so “mortifying” to travel on a bicycle as if you didn’t have anything “decent”. The space for their parking is shrinking day by day and the days are not far away when we’ll experience the situation which is prevalent in Delhi where the lanes and by-Lanes are filled with so many cars that there is no space for pedestrians to walk. Car pooling is also not a favorable option for many as you won’t know whom you’re giving a ride to. Check the number of vehicles brought from the pilgrims’ own states entering in our environment which add up to the air pollution levels. Moreover, the state owned or private transport is not used for this purpose therefore contribution to the economy is negligible.
It should have been made a part of the tourism package offered by our locals and the tourism department. By this, they could earn their livelihood in an already halted state of affairs which often remains close due to bandhs, curfew or government restrictions. The restaurant and hotel owners could have boosted their economy more to some extent by offering them the delicious food and other eatable items, but that doesn’t happen much, as they have their vehicles full of eatables and carry it along with them, sometimes even water bottles. In our own state the scenario is different even from our own regions, say Ladakh. I once visited Leh in connection with the educational tour of my students and hired the SRTC vehicle which is owned by the state. They, despite knowing that I was on an official trip, straightaway told me to keep the SRTC vehicle in the bus yard and take only local taxi or cab to visit different tourist place for site seeing. Their approach is focused on their development and by that, won’t their local cab owner also get benefited? But in Kashmir the situation is different. We can’t talk of economy, ecology, environment or ethics: otherwise we’ll immediately be labeled as anti-National, an easy tag to wipe our generations and generations. Our mindset also plays an important part in this and they take advantage of it. Ours is a sensitive state with respect to the ecology and environment. We are blessed with forests, natural water bodies, lush green pastures, mountains and valleys. The streams and springs give our place a unique identity for which it is called ‘Paradise on earth’ and perhaps this became an eye sore for some people and still continues to be. The two countries have fought many wars and nobody asks us, even though we are the people still living here. The two countries spend millions and keep a major chunk of that reserved and the main factor is the “State of Jammu and Kashmir”. I want to put across my point that every piece of land has a particular capacity like this fragile environment called Amarnath has. The number of the pilgrims is increasing every year and unfortunately we are not even in a position to say that by increasing the number of people you are adding more carbon dioxide, more things for the environment to absorb. The excreta needs sufficient time to get decomposed. The people carry so much plastic with them and add more garbage to the inaccessible areas. While I am writing these lines, the news flashing on my mobile is “Flash flood hits Baltal base camp of Amarnath Yatra, no casualties” and “Two Amarnath Yatris dead, four injured as rains trigger landslide on Baltal route”. These incidents happen naturally but there’s a chance of them getting enhanced when we trigger the fragile environment. Every time we can’t be lucky. We’ll eventually pay a heavy price the likes of which people paid at Uttarkhand when a lot of construction was allowed in the natural spill ways. It always becomes a difficulty when the number is more, rather it becomes unmanageable. Small number of people is always good and it’s easy to keep them safe, say we can even airlift them in case of emergencies.
The Lord Shiva Ligam is created physically by the environmental factors which play an important role in freezing the Lingam. If we keep going on like we are now without any check in the number, then the environment will get warmer. In near future, God forbid, we might not be in a position to glimpse Lord Shiva Lingam. Where there is any pilgrimage site, the state checks the ability of the place to safely bear the number, the same way as it happens for the Haj Pilgrimage. The authorities there don’t exceed a certain limit and none is an exception to their already decided “number per year”. But here in our situation where our forests are being cut, water bodies are shrinking continually, where we have filled every wetland to build our residential colonies; who will stand up to say that we are dignified citizens and take care of our environment. The political statements will neither get stronger nor will it lose hold by this venture.
For the sake of whatever you believe in, keep our environment safe because you claim to be the custodians of that.
(The Author is Scientist and Head Division of Social and Basic Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, Benhama, SKUAST K.