Muslims offer ‘sharbat’ during ‘Charri Mubarak’ procession in J-K’s Doda

Over 12,000 devotees, carrying Charri Mubarak holy mace, left the ancient Vasuki Nag temple in Bhaderwahs Gatha this morning for the 14,700-foot high Kailash Kund, depicting ancient Nag culture.The local Muslim youths welcomed the devotees with sharbat at the specially set up stalls near Eidgah gate in Bhaderwah town.Bhaderwah Additional Deputy Commissioner Dilmir Chowdhary and Station House Officer SHO Jatinder Singh Rakwal visited the stalls and appreciated the effort of the youths.This gesture will go a long way to help strengthen the age-old bond of communal harmony in the region, Chowdhary said.

In a gesture of communal harmony, some Muslim youths on Monday put up stalls and offered ‘sharbat’ (beverages) to the Hindu pilgrims who embarked on the three-day annual Kailash Kund Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district. Over 12,000 devotees, carrying ‘Charri Mubarak’ (holy mace), left the ancient Vasuki Nag temple in Bhaderwah’s Gatha this morning for the 14,700-foot high Kailash Kund, depicting ancient ‘Nag’ culture.

The local Muslim youths welcomed the devotees with ‘sharbat’ at the specially set up stalls near Eidgah gate in Bhaderwah town.

Bhaderwah Additional Deputy Commissioner Dilmir Chowdhary and Station House Officer (SHO) Jatinder Singh Rakwal visited the stalls and appreciated the effort of the youths.

“This gesture will go a long way to help strengthen the age-old bond of communal harmony in the region,” Chowdhary said. Naseer Mehboob, who led the initiative, said the group had come to welcome the pilgrims who have converged from different states of the country to undertake the tough yatra.

“This tradition of Hindu-Muslim brotherhood will always continue in our city,'' he said.

The 'Charri Mubarak' yatra is considered one of the toughest as pilgrims have to trek the 18-km-steep Kailash mountain range to pay their obeisance at the high-altitude temple, where they take a dip in the ice-cold ‘Kund’ (lake) to seek the blessings of their deities Vasuki Nag and Lord Shiva.