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Much has been written on Amarnath cave shrine and it’s Yatra by the writers of repute, intellectuals, and preached by religious fundamentalists in a large number so far, which starts from May-June every year and ends in mid August. At this time devotees perform this Yatra in a large number, who come from nook and corner of the world. This Yatra has been exposed by print as well as visual media and people have become aware of the miracle of nature and come to see it personally from every state of India in particular and from the world in general. First, the number of these was of in hundreds which gave lead to thousands and now the number has crossed to millions every year for which any govt of Jammu and Kashmir show cold shoulder on it’s preparedness in rendering facilities to devotees, except Ponywallas, Hoteliers etc which remain in total active in Yatra period due to the fact that they earn a lot by charging huge money from the devotees. But all the devotees are not well-off and cannot afford to halt at Hotels etc. Bare footed and half naked Sadhus, who come to have darshan of icy-lingam from east and west,north and south by faith, because faith has melt the stones. It has been recorded in the History of kashmir that there was a time when Sadhus of high order were coming here to have the darshan of icy lingam at Amarnath and after their full satisfaction of this ultimate truth, for which they had craved in their lives, never came back to live in this materialistic world and ended their life before icy lingam. But that time has gone.In the present day circumstances, going to temples, Mosques, Gurdwaras or Churches is to get peace of mind for some hours if he or she has faith on these. The same is observed, while performing Amarnath-Yatra also at this time, Due to its vast coverage in visual and print media, three types of devotees throng to this cave-shrine of Shiva. One is of affluent class who come here just to enjoy beauty of nature everywhere-snow peaked mountains, lush green pastures, up and down of mountains, multi-colored flowers everywhere and pen-down silence and not even a bird flying in the sky. This looks them very strange because these are those people who come from Metropolitan cities and such scenes of nature are read only in fairy tales. These are moneyed persons and if they feel anything abnormal in the way, they can afford to reach the cave-shrine in Helicopter.
Second type of devotees is our medium class people, who apart from devotion, has an earnest urge to see the icy-lingam in the cave and when they get darshan of it, they get really satisfied and wonders about the miracle of nature. The third types of people are real devotees and mostly consists of Sadhus of highest order. They know that icy-lingam is in the cave, whether it is in full formation or not, does not matter, but the cave is living abode of Shiva, the symbol of one God which is being accepted by every faith of people, irrespective of caste, creed and color. Devotees go there, come what may every year and this process is continued from king Nara [750AD] even upto this date. This cave-shrine remained the matter of confrontation in the reign of different kings without any basis or logic behind it and the recent example is Amarnath land row which created resentment among both Hindus and Muslims against the then governments of both centre and state and additional path took place a hostile turn in the city of temples Jammu and it’s outskirts and ultimately the victory was of people, the devotees. These are some facts which everybody know or have read in papers. But one should understand that Amarnath-Yatra has it’s own security guard and any kind of objection on it by any quarter has it’s own solution at the proper time, What is this security cover or safe-guard of the Yatra? I have made research on it according to my own limitations and if anybody has any clue about it,he should directly write to the editor of Shehjar with valuable details. As we know any Yatra of Hindus to any sacred place by foot is being laid by holy Mace in the hands of a Sadhu of highest order. This is a tradition and especially when one has to go to any place which is connected with Shiva the one,it is must to follow it. But this is a accepted fact that this tradition has started from the Amarnath Yatra first. After that it became the process of other Shiva tirthas of India. But this holy Mace has it’s own background behind it whether it can be treated as mythic or historical. What is the meaning of this holy Mace and why not have a collective Yatra without it? Nobody has pointed about it so far, except by saying that this Yatra is being performed by a saint of high order with a Mace in his hand. Why? That has no mention. According to ‘Bragesh-Samhita’ which has been written by a saint of highest order Brangi Batt by name on the Brangi-nallah of kashmir, has said that due to the hatred between Nagas and Piccas with each other, who were early settlers of the valley of kashmir, no race dared to go to cave-shrine, though everybody was eager to come here. The situation remained the same after so many centuries and lastly, it became the prestige point for both the races of who will reach here first. The fact is that both were inimical with each other. If one race was trying for it, another did not allow them to do so. After sensing ego and power of strength of both the races, Shiva advised both the races to have the Yatra of this site collectively without harming to each other because this Yatra does not give message of bloodshed. Yatra is meant to get peace of mind. But this was not acceptable by these races as these had no faith on each other. Secondly Piccas did not dare to come in the area of Nagas where this cave-shrine is situated without any type of arm or any type of security cover from Shiva. Under these circumstances, this was a genuine point. After that Shiva gave Mace to Takshaka,the main lord of Nagas by advising him to hand it over to the real devotee accepted by both Nagas and Piccas, who can lead it to the cave-shrine. Mace is actually the main weapon of destruction made by Shiva which does not escape anybody when his intentions are bad and chaos is created in any Yatra related to Shiva. This was the powerful weapon of destruction in those days and no any other weapon of this kind had been discovered. This was called ‘Bram-Astra’ in those days and recently prepared Missile by India has also been given name as ‘Bram-Astra’ or in other words ’Bramos’. Takshaka handed over the Mace to a holy man as advised by Shiva. This man was Manva who had no deadly features like these races. The Yatra to cave remained successful with Mace in his hand. There was no fighting between the two races. Death and destruction was out of question. Since then it has become a tradition of any Yatra of Shiva tirtha in northern India, to lead it with Mace, where most of the parts are under Himalyan belt and now in eastern and southern states of India,the devotees of Shiva have begun the process, while going on Shiva tirtha in these places. Carrying of today’s Mace is not any weapon or ‘Bram-Astra’ but it is being carried while going on any Shiva tirtha symbolically.Since then,this tradition is alive and will remain so in future also. Today, the symbolic Mace is made of silver or even gold and the number of these always remain two.One is of Shiva and other of Parvati. Before marching on any Shiva tirtha,these are being worshipped by the head of that area because it is the symbolic weapon or missile which has the capacity to control the mob of devotees and save them from any stampede anywhere, keep them hale and hearty and aloof from worldly desires and lastly their aim to reach the Ultimate. This remains the main aim of carrying Mace to Shiva tirtha aymbolically. Any Shiva tirtha without it has no importance. Mace holds the path to devotees and in this way they feel sense of security. Their attention, while marching always remain towards Ultimate. As I already said, Mace has it’s origin in Kashmir ,the weapon or ‘Bram-Astra’ given by Shiva to Takshaka, the lord of Nagas sothat Naga and Piccas can go to cave-shrine collectively without fighting with each other.Nilmatpurana also attaches importance to it. Actually Bragesh-Samhita is said copy of Nilmatpuran but it is not Puran as is attributed with it. On the other hand it is the Encyclopedia of the rituals, faith and tirthas of the early settlers of kashmiris or Nagas of which kashmiri Pandits are the ab-origins.It is recorded in Kalhan’s Rajtarangni that to go Amarnath cave-shrine, one feels unsafe and insecure without having a Mace in hand by a Sadhu of highest order. But after a thorough historical research, this Mace has it’s record in the History of Madhya-Bharat, now called Madhya-Pradesh where it is said that before starting Amarnath-Yatra, Mace was carried from Hoshingabad by handed over it to a Sadhu of highest order.What would be the reason behind it-nothing can be said concrete. According to my opinion, two reasons might be behind it.One is utter lawlessness in kashmir and the other may be that Hindus living in plains may have forcibly taken the charge of starting Amarnath Yatra in kashmirian style with Mace in the hands of Sadhu. Third point which is important to note that holding of Mace before any Shiva-Yatra in plains might have become imperative due to it. This is really surprising. This shows that political conditions of kashmir would have gone from bad to worse and any saintly person would have decided to start this Yatra from Hoshingabad according to circumstances. Actually,the whole India was under the grip of lawlessness in those days. Muslims on one side and Sikhs on the other were fighting with each other in some pockets of India for the reasons best known to the readers. Due to the turmoil, the place of Mace was changed again and Guru Arjandev singh took it to Amritsar and handed it over to a saintly person with so many acres of land as his Jagir. Later in 19th century, it was unanimously decided to take the Mace to Srinagar. Later, according to the Katha of Amarnath, this was carried by the devotees at different places of religious importance while chanting Vedic hymns.Hari-Parvat, Shankracharia temple and Sheetalnath temple were the main centres where it was being exhibited. At one time, Barahmulla was also it’s main centre where there is famous tirtha of kashmiris ’Koti-tirtha’ by name. There was a time when devotees came here in large number and a Langer was organised here twenty four hours. In the reign of Maharajas, the Yatra of Amarnath started from Srinagar at Dashnami-Akhara [Laichowk] with carrying of Mace and before leaving for Amarnath –Yatra, it was being worshipped according to the Vedic hymns in which some heads of state were participating. But after recent turmoil and migration of kashmiri Pandits, the Mace is at Jammu, the other component of Jammu and kashmir state for the last 25 years. It has been kept at famous Shiva Rambishwar temple of Jammu by name, which is in the heart of city. This is the halting place of devotees of Amarnath especially for sadhus who start their onward journey by batches in buses to Pahalgam-Chandanwari according to turn. Recently, a Yatri Niwas has been constructed here at Baghwati-Nagar which has eased the problems of devotees to some extant. But today’s Amarnath Yatra is different than the earliest.
Today, devotees go to cave shrine by batches while as in fifty years before, these were going enmass with Mace in hand to any saint of highest order. Present day circumstances of kashmir does not allow to have this Yatra as it was arranged here before. Two factors are responsible for it. Firstly number of devotees has increased ten times than before and it is not possible to arrange this Yatra enmass on this hilly route which crosses certaln stages to reach Ultimate. Secondly, security of the people is the main concern where at certain places militants hide themselves and make target to devotees. So many such incidents have happened so far, in which devotees have died and injured. So a police guard with modern weaponry always remain with the devotees. So, at the ending stages of Yatra to Amarnath, Mace is carried by a saint of highest order with some devotees of Amreshwar temple at Jammu to Srinagar, where it is kept in Dashnami Akhara for some days for darshan for devotees and later taken to Shankrachariya temple, where it is worshipped before age-old idol of Shiva and later, Yatra proceeds to Amarnath route, where so many tirthas of religious importance come, like Vijeshwar, Mattan, Thajwor etc. On these spots, Mace is being exhibited for darshan of devotees. This is the tale of Mace about which none has written elaborately, In short, Mace is the boon of Amarnath and to reach Ultimate without fear and harming others.
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