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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



The melting snow from the hillsides and 

 spring- rains carried earth and stones on 

 to them, and alternate thawing and freez- 

 ing made solid fields, often many feet in 



thickness. The largest in this defile was 

 about a half mile in length and cSo feet 

 across at its widest, and was a succession 

 of hills and hollows. 



It was from the top of this immense 

 bridge that we had our first glimpse of 

 the famous cave — an opening 150 feet 

 long, wide and deep, in a huge mass of 

 gypsum rocK. Extending from the snows 

 on the right down past our field to the 

 other end of this defile rose a rock- 

 crowned hill, with its long moraine sides, 

 and on the left a hill just as high, capped 

 with jagged gray rock minarets, seamed 

 and scarred, jutted up against the blue 

 of the sky. 



In the crevices snow had resisted the 

 summer suns and was still lying, giving 

 a peculiar streaked appearance to the 

 rocks, visible many miles away. 



Near the cave a cold, crystal stream 

 tumbled down the mountain side in a 

 series of beautiful cascades. From it we 

 took our only drink of unboiled water in 

 Kashmir, for no shepherd could perch 

 his filthy hut on these steep slopes. 



To complete the picture, we should have 

 seen the pilgrims hurry along the valley 

 toward their Mecca, sometimes as many 

 as six or seven thousand of them. When 

 they reach the last steep ascent, the most 

 zealous of the men and women cast off 

 their clothing, and, clad only in a scant 

 attire of birch bark, toil up the hardest 

 part of the slope, chanting as they go. 



We were too late, however, for this 

 pilgrimage, which occurs at the full moon 

 of the month of Sawan, in our July or 

 August. Hindus come from all parts of 

 India, some barefoot and only half clad, 

 and if snow falls, as is sometimes the 

 case, or the weather is inclement, many 

 die on the way. In 1900 and 1901 cholera 

 followed their visit and ravaged the 

 Happy Valley in a most cruel manner. 



The interior of the cave is very disap- 



pointing. At the back of it are some 

 springs, whose issue forms a dome- 

 shaped block of ice somewhat like the 

 lingam or symbol of Siva. This ice is 

 clear as crystal. At certain seasons it is 

 about two feet high and covers an area 

 of three or four square yards. When we 

 were there the block was much smaller 

 and the lingam quite indistinct. Siva is 

 supposed to enter this symbol in some 

 miraculous way; hence the adoration lav- 

 ished upon it. 



A few flowers still remained on and 

 around the ice, and we found a number 

 of butt is (small clay lamps) lying on the 

 floor of the cave — sole remains of the 

 worshipful throng that had been there 

 but six weeks before. 



THE MEANING OF AMERNATH CAVE TO 

 THE HINDU 



At the earnest request of one of his 

 clerks, a member of our party laid a gar- 

 land of flowers on the icy symbol of the 

 "great destroyer," most popular of the 

 Hindu trinity — Brahma, Vishnu, and 

 Siva. The full merit to be acquired by 

 taking the trip was out of his power, but 

 he thus made his offering by proxy at 

 this very sacred shrine, and so lay up 

 what righteousness he could. 



We had not realized what a visit to this 

 cave means to a Hindu. The Christian 

 has his Jerusalem, but he goes there as to 

 a historical city. One sacred spot after 

 another is viewed with feelings of inde- 

 scribable interest and awe, and a holy 

 calm comes over him as he realizes that, 

 in some instances at least, he is actually 

 treading the path that his Master trod. 

 That is all. 



But to the Hindu pilgrim, Amernath 

 was the first abode of his god Siva, the 

 destroyer who ushers in another life, and 

 the word means life that never ends ; so 

 that the devotee who enters the inclosure 

 treads upon holy ground and receives the 

 gift of everlasting life — a goal before 

 which all toil, all hardship, even the death 

 of the body, sinks into insignificance. 



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