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Amarnath Cave

© Harsh Nevatia

The Amarnath Cave is one of the twelve holiest shrines dedicated to Lord Shiva. These shrines are collectively known as 'Jyotirlingas'.

The shrine is in Kashmir in the Himalayan mountain range. It is at a height of about 4000 metres. The cave is snow bound in the winter and is accessible only in the months of July and August. The pilgrimage begins from Srinagar, the capital city of Kashmir, 140 kilometres from the shrine. The route passes through Pahalgam, Chandanwari, Sheshnag and Panchtarni, each of these places being intricately woven in the legend that signifies the importance of this shrine. Amarnath cave was the spot chosen by Lord Shiva for narrating the secret of immortality to his consort Parvati.

Once Parvati complained to her husband, "Why is it that I die and am reborn from time to time, whereas you are immortal?" Shiva kept on avoiding replying to her, till Parvati's determination to learn the secret began to upset their daily life. Shiva told his wife that the secret had to be told in a lonely place where no living being could hear it. They set out for Amarnath Cave. On the way Shiva left his bull and companion, Nandi. That place came to be known as 'Bailgaon', which translates as the village of the bull. This was later corrupted to Pahalgam. The crescent moon rested on Shiva's head. He next left it behind and that place became 'Chandanwari' or the place of the moon. The couple then passed a lake where he released the serpent, the hooded cobra, which always coiled around his neck. This lake was then called 'Sheshnag', from the Hindi word for the hooded cobra. Next to be left behind, on a mountain peak, was his son Ganesha. This peak was 'Mahagunas Parvat', a corrupted form of the Hindi for The Mountain of the Great Ganesha. But Shiva was yet not satisfied that he had complete secrecy. So after descending from Mahagunas Parvat he discarded the five elements that make up the human being, Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Sky. This valley became 'Panchtarni' or the five elements.

Only then did Shiva and Parvati enter the Amarnath Cave. Their Shiva spread out the deerskin, his only garment that he wore round his waist and sat down cross-legged on it. He asked Parvati to do likewise. As a further precaution he created a wall of fire around the cave so that no living being could enter the cave. Only then did he narrate the secret of immortality to Parvati. But Parvati had got tired from all the travelling and fell asleep, thereby missing out on the secret. But there was an egg that had got hidden by Shiva's deerskin and the pair of pigeons that were germinating in it heard the secret. In due time the egg hatched and the pigeons were released. They made the cave their home. Whenever the priests open the cave in summer by breaking the ice they find this pair of pigeons in it.

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