Traditional Amarnath Temple is a Hindu shrine located in the Pahalgam tehsil of the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, India.

[2][3] The cave, located in Sind Valley, is surrounded by glaciers, snowy mountains and is covered with snow most of the year, except for a short period in the summer, when it is open to pilgrims.

The stalagmite is formed due to the freezing of water drops that fall from the roof of the cave onto the floor, resulting in an upward growth of an ice formation.

Religious beliefs hold that the lingam grows and shrinks with the phases of the moon, reaching its height during the summer festival.

Hindus believe this is the place where Shiva explained the secret of life and eternity to his divine consort, Parvati.

It is believed that in the 11th century CE, Queen Suryamati gifted trishulas, banalingas and other sacred emblems to this temple.

In his book Travels in Mughal Empire, he provides an account of the places he visited, noting that he was "pursuing journey to a grotto full of wonderful congelations, two days journey from Sangsafed" when he "received intelligence that my Nawab felt very impatient and uneasy on account of my long absence."

The "grotto" referenced in this passage is the Amarnath cave — as the editor of the second edition of the English translation of the book, Vincent A. Smith, makes clear in his introduction.

He writes: "The grotto full of wonderful congelations is the Amarnath cave, where blocks of ice, stalagmites formed by dripping water from the roof are worshipped by many Hindus who resort here as images of Shiva...."[16] In 1895, pilgrims would first travel to Kheer Bhawani for a brief stop.

[26] On 22 April 2020, the Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board announced the suspension of the Yatra because of the COVID-19 pandemic in India.

[28] In light of the pandemic, the union territory government on 4 July announced that only 500 people would be permitted road travel to the shrine and everyone entering Jammu and Kashmir would be tested for COVID-19, and quarantined until their reports came back negative.

[31] The shrine board on 27 March 2022 decided to resume the pilgrimage after a gap of two years, starting from 30 June and lasting for 43 days, while following protocols to prevent the spread of COVID.

A long time ago, it is believed that the Valley of Kashmir was underwater, and Sage Kashyapa drained it through a series of rivers and rivulets.

[38] The Amarnath Yatra pilgrimage occurs when the iced stalagmite Shiva lingam reaches the apex of its waxing phase through the summer months.

States comprising a majority of the allotment include Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

On the south route via Pahalgam-Chandanwari, the helicopter services from Chandanwari base camp to Panjtarni (6 km from the cave) are also available from various private operators.

It begins with a 43 kilometres (27 mi) mountainous trek from the Nunwan and Chandanwari basecamp at Pahalgam and reaches the cave-shrine after night halts at Sheshnag Lake and Panchtarni camps.

Bhrigu's Amarnath Mahatmya identifies a number of locations on the pilgrimage route to the Amarnath cave: Shurahyar, Shivpora, Pandrethan, Pampore, Javati, Awantipur, Barsu, Jaubror, Belihar, Wagahama, Chakreshwar (Tsakdar), Hari Chandar, Sthalwat (Thajwor), Suryai Gohwat (Sriguphvara), Lambodari, Sirham, Bodrus, Bala Khelyan, Ganish, Mammaleshwar, Bhrigupati Kshetra, Nila Ganga, Pissu Hill (Pissu Top), Sheshnag, Wavjan, Panchtarni, Amravati.

[50] En route to the cave, various non-governmental organisations have set up food supply and resting tents called pandals which are available for free to the pilgrims.

Every year, thousands of central armed forces and state police personnel are deployed to provide security to pilgrims from potential terror threats.

[71] Sir Walter Roper Lawrence in The Valley of Kashmir (1895) writes that the difficulty of the pilgrimage route affected the weak and sick, with many also falling victim to cholera.

The major cause was attributed to people who were not physically fit for the arduous climb, high elevations, and adverse weather undertaking the yatra.

[90] This accident happened less than a week after a deadly terrorist attack on a bus carrying Amarnath Yatra pilgrims from Gujarat.

On 8 July 2022, at around 5:30 pm, flash floods due to a localised cloudburst near the holy cave shrine washed away scores of pilgrims.

Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant-governor Manoj Sinha announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the 15 pilgrims who died in the flash floods.

[93] The Harkat-ul-Mujahideen group imposed what it called a "ban" on the yatra in 1994, 1995 and 1998 while threatening the pilgrims with "serious consequences"; however the pilgrimage did continue.

[99] On 20 July 2001, a terrorist threw a grenade on a pilgrim night camp at Sheshnag near the Amarnath shrine and at least 13 persons, including three women, were killed in two explosions and firing by militants; two were security officials and three were Muslim civilians.

[100] On 30 July and 6 August 2002, in two separate incidents terrorists from al-Mansuriyan, a front group of Lashkar-e-Taiba, massacred two and nine pilgrims and injured three and 27 people in Srinagar and near Nunwan pilgrimage base camp respectively.

Similar provisions were made for pilgrims going to Sri Mata Vaishno Devi under which they need to pay ₹ 2000 for a period of three days.

In response to the question in Lok Sabha, then Minister of State for Finance, S. S. Palanimanickam clarified that tax is levied on all India Tourist Vehicles entering the state and it was therefore not correct to say that the Government of Jammu & Kashmir was levying any additional tax on vehicles going to Amarnath and Vaishno Devi.