This year Amarnath Yatra will start from 3rd July and will continue till 28th August.
The first group left for Amarnath Yatra on Thursday. The journey is starting from 3rd July. Except last year, every year the Yatra started on different dates. Amarnath Yatra started from 30th June in 2022, 1st July in 2023 and 29th June in 2022. Based on this, the date of completion of the journey was also different. Now the question is why the date of Amarnath Yatra changes every year. Let us understand this.
This year Amarnath Yatra starts from 3rd July till 28th August i.e. It will last for 57 days. This year more days have been allotted for the journey than last year. Whereas last year its duration was only 38 days.
Why does the date change?
The date of Amarnath Yatra is not decided according to religious beliefs or the English calendar. Its beginning is decided according to the Hindu calendar. That is, the journey starts from the month of Ashadha and ends on the day of Shravan Purnima (Rakshabandhan). This is the time when the naturally formed Shivalinga in the Amarnath cave has taken its full shape.
Every year its date is decided according to the lunar calendar. Actually, the Hindu calendar runs differently from the solar calendar, hence the date of commencement and completion of Amarnath Yatra in the English calendar changes every year.
How much difference is there in the calendar?
Purnima is a lunar based date. Its date changes every year in the Gregorian calendar. Sometimes 9th August and sometimes 28th August. Why there is a difference, it can also be understood that the Hindu lunar year is of 354 days and the English solar year is of 365 days. That means every year there is a difference of 11 days. To bridge this gap, Adhik Maas i.e. an additional lunar month is added in between which comes once every two to three years. This year the same change has happened and the days of travel are also more.
Amarnath Yatra.
This is the reason why in some years the date of Amarnath Yatra shifts forward and backward by only a few days whereas in a particular year it shifts forward and backward by a month.
Amarnath cave at an altitude of 5,486 meters
Anantnag district is famous for Amarnath cave. Amarnath cave is at an altitude of 5,486 meters. It is at a distance of 48 kilometers from Pahalgam. Due to the high altitude, the cave is covered with snow for most of the year. Its entrance opens only for some time in summer. The Shivalinga along with the ice pillar present inside the cave, and two smaller ice pillars symbolize Mother Parvati and son Ganesha.
According to the official website of Anantnag district, it is believed that the height of the ice Shivalinga keeps increasing and decreasing with the phases of the moon. Shivalinga is at its largest size on the full moon day of August in the month of Shravan.
Amarnath cave is at a distance of 48 kilometers from Pahalgam. Photo: PTI
More than 3.5 lakh devotees will visit
This year, more than 3.5 lakh devotees will visit Amarnath Yatra. This Yatra, which will last for 57 days, is starting from July 3 and the first batch has left. Last year i.e. 2025, around 5 lakh devotees had darshan of Baba Barfani.
Also read: Understand the complete route of Amarnath Yatra from the map, know how many kilometers you will have to walk.
