Srinagar, July 6 (IANS) Over 56,000 devotees had ‘darshan’ inside the holy cave in the last three days since the Amarnath Yatra (SANJY-2026) started on July 3 in Jammu and Kashmir.

Over 24,000 pilgrims from different parts of the country paid obeisance at the holy cave on Sunday, the third day of the Yatra.

Reports said that 24,648 pilgrims from the twin tracks of Baltal and Pahalgam-Chandanwari had paid obeisance at the holy cave situated at an altitude of 3880 metres by Sunday evening.

It may be recalled that in the last two days after the yatra started on Friday, a total of 32,313 pilgrims have paid obeisance at the cave shrine.

Since its start, 56,961 pilgrims have visited the cave shrine during the last three days. Reports said that the weather in the shrine area was partially cloudy, but the yatra proceeded smoothly during the entire day on Sunday on both tracks.

The pilgrims who had darshan on Sunday returned towards their respective base camps by the evening.

There is a heavy rush of pilgrims right from Baltal and Nunwan base camps to the holy cave, as thousands of pilgrims are daily reporting to the twin base camps from different parts of the country to perform the pilgrimage despite the appeals of the administration to pilgrims not to proceed for darshan before their due date.

The pilgrimage is being conducted simultaneously via the traditional 48-km Pahalgam route in Anantnag district and the shorter 14-km Baltal route in Ganderbal district. The Jammu and Kashmir administration has urged unregistered pilgrims planning to undertake the yatra to postpone their journey by a few days, saying all registration slots have been booked till July 9 due to an unprecedented influx of devotees.

Officials also announced that beginning Sunday, only registered pilgrims will be permitted to proceed towards Kashmir, while unregistered devotees will be stopped at designated checkpoints until fresh registration quotas become available.

There is a heavy influx of pilgrims in Jammu too, as thousands of yatris are daily reporting here from different parts of the country to have darshan.

A huge rush of pilgrims was seen at Registration and token distribution counters near Tawi riverfront, Ram Mandir, Purani Mandi and Geeta Bhawan.

Long queues of pilgrims were seen in front of registration and token counters since early morning.

Reports said that 5,000 unregistered yatris were registered for different dates of pilgrimage.

The 57-day-long SANJY-2026 will conclude on Shravan Purnima and Raksha Bandhan festivals.

–IANS

sq/dpb