1866.] Notes on Pilgrimages in the Country of Cashmere. 219 



Notes on Pilgrimages in the Country of Cashmere. By Major 

 T>. F. Newall, R. A. 



[Keceived from the Punjab Auxiliary Branch of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 



31st July, 1866.] 



The tendency of the Hindu inhabitant of Cashmere, to localize in 

 his own small, though lovely valley the fabled incidents of his religion, 

 common to all lands where the Brahminical faith prevails, is, I believe, 

 generally known. In putting on record,' therefore, a few notes on the 

 pilgrimages of Cashmere, I may be, perhaps merely on a small scale, 

 assigning to local spots the fables which more properly belong to the 

 entire Hindu Pantheon, and have their localities elsewhere in Hin- 

 dustan. 



I proceed, however, to what I find in my notes as No. 1 of the 

 pilgrimages annually undertaken by native Hindus of Cashmere, 

 and which is known as that of " Amr-nauth" (Lord of Immortality) ; 

 and before proceeding to detail the steps of the pilgrimage, a few 

 words of description of this far-famed locality may be interesting : I 

 say far-famed, because the full moon of August annually has pilgrims 

 from all parts of India, as well as Cashmere, assembled in honour of 

 its tutelary Lord. 



The gvpsum cave of Amr-eeshur or Amr-nauth (Lord of Immor- 

 tality), sacred to Mahadeo, is situated in the rugged chain which 

 separates Cashmere from Thibet. Its elevation above the sea cannot 

 be less than 15,000 or 16,000 feet> and even during summer its 

 approach is invested with the snows of winter. Wild fantastic peaks 

 and desolate steppes surround the spot, and the grand old glaciers of 

 Sooroo and Wardwun tower in the far horizon. 



Hindus perform a yearly pilgrimage to this shrine, and to a devotee 

 from the city of Srinuggur there are no less than twenty-two places of 

 Snan where religious ablution must be observed, before he can approach 

 the holy adytum, or sacred cave of Amr-nauth. Legends or absurd 

 fables are attached to these spots, and the following is a brief record 

 of .some of them. 



The Hindus of Cashmere, followers chiefly of Siva the " Destroyer," 

 and Ophists, believing moreover their own small vallej'- to contain 

 within its limits the germ or type of the whole Hindu Pantheon, 

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