Book excerpt from Kashmir | Historic routes & views on Amarnath Yatra, to the cave where Bhole Nath revealed the secrets of the universe

Mahashivaratri 2024: Amarnath Yatra typically opens for up to two months in the year, usually in July-August. (Photo credit Guptaele via Wikimedia Commons 4.0)

Excerpted from the chapter "Pahalgam, East Lidder and Sources of the Sind" in Kashmir: Travels in Paradise on Earth by Romesh Bhattacharji, with permission from HarperCollins India.

Sangam (3514 m) is where all these paths to Amarnath converge. It’s a wide, pebble-strewn meadow with a helipad for the rich who want to fly to salvation. The view is as magnificent and imposing as it has been on the various routes till here. To the south can be seen the gully leading to Chhut gali (4278 m) above the Nau nar. From Sangam, the way to Amarnath Cave lies to the north. There are, as expected, captivating views in each direction.

If one looks back, from the first turn in the gorge to Amarnath down the way till Sangam, it’s an impressive sight in pilgrimage season. Above the right bank of the Amarnath nala stretches an unbroken stream of heads with colourful headgear jerkily moving up a sterile grey ragged landscape dotted with snow fields and dominated by craggy peaks. The Amarnath nala’s roar occasionally reaches the endless nala of humanity puffing their way to the Cave. High rock faces dominate either side.

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Amarnath’s huge yawning cave is flanked by seemingly impassable cliffs. Half a kilometre to its east is a steep ice riven gully that looks improbable but is accessible only in August. It leads up to the Himalayan Seki Pantsal Pass (4575 m). It has been in use, occasionally, for hundreds of years by shepherds, but it was first climbed and described by E.F. Neve, the early twentieth century Kashmir explorer. He, along with his brother Major Arthur Neve, was at that time a doctor in Srinagar Christian Mission Hospital, which is now the Government Chest Diseases Hospital, Durgjan, Srinagar. Arthur Neve had published the first detailed trekking guide of Kashmir and Ladakh at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was updated and republished in 1921 by his brother E.F. Neve.

It is easier to cross this pass from the north. The way starts a short distance from the east of Gumri camp across the Gumri river on NH 1, soon after Zoji la is crossed. Zoji la (3530 m) is a noticeable watershed. All the waters south of this pass go into the Jhelum, and those north of it eventually flow into the Indus. A shepherd trail goes directly south along the gully of Gumur nar, which has snow bridges even in August. It skirts around the base of the steep and ice-ribbed western face of Machoi West (5200 m) and then turns into the eastern moraine of Gumur glacier, which E.F. Neve called Amarnath (Map 6). The best way is above the moraine till the point where the Seki Pantsal pass can be clearly seen. It’s an easy climb across the glacier to the top of the Seki Pantsal pass (4575 m). Once this pass is reached, distant peaks and nearby rock faces hypnotize. Tarry here and linger there, get your breath back, have a leisurely lunch and descend cautiously. The 700 m steep descent is tricky especially when there is little snow. The Amarnath Cave is to the right of the base of this pass.

This way was used by traders avoiding the tax collecting station at Baltal but seldom by shepherds. Shepherds preferred to take a longer route to and from Sangam, through the vast tiered meadows of Minimarg. Here the Sukh nala coming from south-east meets the Gumri from the west. The way is up the Sukh nala’s sometimes narrow gorge for about 8 km. At the first large confluence and before a large crumbling scree leave the Sukh to head west south-west up the Kibla nala till the mouth of the C-shaped Kibla glacier is reached. The Kibla pass (4580 m) can be seen from the head of the glacier (Map 7). The route is along the right moraine of the glacier, which is crossed about midway of the curve at the widest part of the glacier’s large snow field to reach the pass. The easy descent on the other side of the pass ends at the base, which is the source of the Amarnath nala. The path passes below the legendary cave to Sangam.

To east-south-east from Sangam the view is of mountain slopes and snow fields converging onto a fledgling Sind river. Look above and beyond this mess of rock and ice and one can see the west face of Nichang (5444 m) about 12 km away (Map 6). It is worth an hour of pause to show respect—especially at sunset when the peak shimmers and glows as if it is gold. By moving higher up a slope, one can see much more of this peak. It is on the border of Kashmir with Kishtwar. A kilometre to its north is the source of the Sind river. Nichang is called Yishan by E.F. Neve in his article in the second volume of the Himalayan Journal (1930). He says that the local name for this knot of peaks was Koh-i-Nur or Mountain of Light—perhaps because it is the first in this part of East Kashmir to catch the early rays of sunrise.

Amarnath is within the Great Crest of the Himalaya. The same crest that harbours Everest far to the south-east. From Amarnath, heading west, it ends 200 km away at the ninth highest peak in the world—Nanga Parbat (8126 m), which towers above the Great Bend of the Indus. The Himalaya starts from Nanga Parbat. Heading south-east, the highest range in the world has another 2100 km to go before it peters out at Namche Barwa (7782 m) at the head of the Great Bend of the Tsangpo.

From Sangam, the Sind river, the pride of Sonamarg, becomes a tossing turning voluminous river, getting wider as it rushes down, picking up all kinds of tributaries—from gentle to turbulent ones. The Amarnath nar meets the Sind at Sangam.

The meadows of Sangam (3514 m) are at the southern base of a couple of black-grey rock and schist peaks called Kajpathar (4820 m and 4905 m). This is a dramatic rock ridge decorated with slices of ice. They are drained to the west by the Kajpathar nar that, just south of Zoji la, emerges out of a dark gully as a short and steep waterfall. This can be seen from the road to Zoji la from Baltal, and one is struck by its inaccessibility. Yet, E.F. Neve and Kenneth Mason made a route along this waterfall and thence up Kajpathar nar stream through long snow and ice fields and reached Kajpathar. They then came down the steep rock face of Kajpathar peaks and met the path to Amarnath from Sangam.