Hindu faith, Muslim spirit

This year’s Amarnath Yatra is seeing 31,830 local labourers, mostly Muslims, registered as pony wallahs, pithu wallahs, and palanquin-bearers

The gushes of the Lidder river have turned into roars as the water rolls down the north-western Himalayan range. It runs 73 kilometres, flowing through the centre of the Pahalgam valley in south Kashmir’s Anantnag. The main tributary of the Jhelum river, it acquires its speed and noise from the melting snow up in the narrow troughs of the Kolahoi glacier located at an altitude of 17,799 feet. In the valley, it breathes between two mountains.

On its flat banks, Abdul Rehman Paddar, 64, is tending to his young white and brown horses between seven and 11 years old. Four of his horses are already up in the mountains in the service of pilgrims. These horses carry men and women on their backs, led by owners, to cover the arduous trek to the Amarnath cave shrine, located at an altitude of 12,756 feet. A pilgrim treks 30 km from the Chandanwari camp as the motorable road ends there. Some take horses.

The cave at Amarnath sees between four and six lakh pilgrims each year, according to official estimates. So far this year, 4.36 lakh people have arrived. Last year, there were 4.5 lakh pilgrims across the season. They come in with the belief that a particular stalagmite formed is a Shivling, a phallic symbol considered holy by those who practise Hinduism. Two smaller ones represent Parvati, his wife, and Ganesha, their child. The belief is that Shiva, the god of destruction, was telling his wife the secret to immortality, when two pigeons overheard them, and these are still seen flying around.

The Amarnath Yatra begins in the Hindu month of Shravan and usually ends by Shravan Purnima, which coincides with Raksha Bandhan. This year, the yatra began on June 29 and will extend to 52 days, one of the longest periods.

“The day the yatra started this year, my son Fayaz Ahmad Paddar left for the upper reaches. We have posted two horses at Sheshnag and two at Panchtarni to take pilgrims to the cave shrine. My son is going to stay back in the mountains till the pilgrim rush continues. I may not see him for more than 40 days,” says Rehman Paddar, who charges anywhere from ₹800-8,000 depending on a variety of factors, including the stopovers, distance, and whether it’s a one-way or two-way trip. Fayaz will walk along with the horse, and they will do a trip daily.

Legend has it that Bota Malik, a local shepherd from Pahalgam, discovered the cave shrine in 1850, and reported the naturally formed ice stalagmite to the authorities. Malik is supposed to have met a Sufi saint who gave him a bag of coal that turned out to be gold when he got home. In gratitude, he rushed back to the spot to thank him, only to discover the cave instead.

“The Maliks started the practice of Muslims accompanying pilgrims to the cave shrine,” says Rehman, as he donned the signature white netted skull cap in preparation to offer namaz.