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The Kashmir Timeline

The Amarnath Cave

A mountain cave shrine and one of Hinduism's great pilgrimages.

The Amarnath Cave photograph

Photo: Gktambe at English Wikipedia · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Inside the Amarnath cave an ice formation grows each year that devotees revere as a lingam of Shiva. Every summer hundreds of thousands of pilgrims make the journey on foot or horseback, from Pahalgam or from Baltal near Sonamarg, supported by local pony handlers and porters.

Facts

  • Tradition credits a Muslim shepherd of the Malik family with finding the cave, and the family long had a role at the shrine.
  • The pilgrimage is held in July and August, when the high trails are open.