SRINAGAR: All of a sudden the foot falls in the Ganderbal district have gone for a quantum jump, thanks to a series of religious events.
On Saturday, the yearly Urs concluded in Babanagri. On Sunday, tens of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits are expected to be in Tul Mul for celebrating the Khir Bhawani festival.
Babanagri Urs
Reports said that Gujjar leader Mian Bashir Ahmed, who is the most respected religious leader of the Gujjars in the state, made a speech to almost one lakh devotees on Saturday, the concluding day of the 124th annual Urs of Hazrat Baba Mian Nizam-ud-Din Kiyani.
Tens of thousands of Gujjars come from across the state to be part of the yearly function at Wangat. The Urs falls in the first fortnight of June. The event is participated by a huge number of followers from Rajouri and Poonch. The Mughal Road has actually helped the devotees to stay connected with their religious leader better. This year, the participation was better than last year.
During the Urs, the shrine management offers free food from the community kitchen. It cooks for tens of thousands of people.
Basically from Hazara, the Mians have been the leaders of the community since 1863. Mian Bashiruddin and now his son Mian Altaf have been representing Kangan in the state assembly for decades now.
Kheer Bhawani
A day after the Urs, Tul Mulla will play host to tens of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits. The Pandits come in hoards from across India to celebrate the yearly festival in the Tul Mulla temple.
Though the festival has been a major event of the Pandits throughout, post-migration the government has been investing a lot of effort to make it a huge success. They have been helping the migrant Pandits to reach Srinagar and spend a week in Kashmir. This, apparently, is aimed at helping the migrants to feel the pulse of Kashmir and consider their return.
Though the officials have anticipated a huge number of migrants to participate in the event, the current situation of the highway is seemingly not that supportive.
Almost sic bus loads of pilgrims have come from Delhi-NCR region. They will be spending almost a week in Kashmir.
The arrivals of the devotees have started. But the temple managers said the main prayers are slated for Monday when they expect a participation f around 20,000 pilgrims.
Amarnath Yartra
The authorities are busy preparing for the yearly Amarnath yatra. It started on July 1 and will conclude on August 15. The registration for the yatra has concluded and the Lunghars – the community kitchens, have started arriving.
The yatra has two tracks and the shortest one fall in Ganderbal district. The area remains hugely busy for almost two months for the yatra. Authorities have already started deploying security forces to secure the tracks and the terrain.
