Jammu: Over 4,600 pilgrims left Jammu on Wednesday for theAmarnath cave shrine, after as many as 11,456 pilgrims completed 'darshan' onTuesday. "Another batch of 4,694 yatris left the Bhagwati Nagar YatriNiwas today morning in two escorted convoys for the Kashmir Valley. Of these,2,052 are headed for the Baltal base camp and 2,642 to Pahalgam," policesaid.

The first convoy left Jammu at 3.30 a.m. while the second at4.05 am. The MET predicted a spell of light rain/shower in Baltal-Holy Cave,Pahalgam-Holy Cave axis towards the evening although chances are less. Currenttemperature at Holy Cave was 8.6 degrees Celsius. This year's Amarnath Yatrastarted on July 1 and will end after 45 days on August 15 coinciding withShravan Purnima.

The cave shrine situated at 3,888 metres above the sea-levelin Kashmir Himalayas houses an ice stalagmite structure that symbolisesmythical powers of Lord Shiva, according to the devotees.

Kashmiri Muslims have historically helped their Hindubrethren to perform the annual pilgrimage with ease and convenience. In fact,it was a Muslim shepherd, named Buta Malik who discovered the cave shrine in1850.

According to folklore, a Sufi saint gave the shepherd a bagof charcoal that turned out to be gold. Symbolically, the story was provenright because the shepherd family shared a portion of the offerings at the Caveshrine for more than 150 years.