Discovery of Holy Cave
According to an ancient tale, there was once a Muslim shepherd named Buta Malik who was given a sack of coal by a sadhu. Upon reaching home he discovered that the sack, in fact, contained gold. Overjoyed and overcome, Buta Malik rushed back to look for the sadhu and thank him, but on the spot of their meeting he discovered a cave, and eventually this became a place of pilgrimage for all believers. To date, a percentage of the donations made by pilgrims are given to the descendants of Malik, and the remaining to the trust which manages the shrine.
Yet another legend has it that when Kashap Reshi drained
the Kashmir valley of water (it was believed to have been a vast lake), the cave
and the lingam were discovered by Bregish Reshi who was travelling the Himalayas.
When people heard of the lingam, Amarnathji for them became Shiva's abode and a
centre of pilgrimage.
Mention of this sacred cave is made by Pandit Kalhana in Rajtarangini where
according to him King Ram Dera is stated to have imprisoned the debauch King Sukh
Deva and drowned him into the Lidder river among the mountains of Amarnath and that
at about 1000 B.C.King Sandimati (34 B.C. to 17 B.C.) had visited the sacred ice
Shivalingam. It only indicates that the sacred cave of Amar Nath Ji was known to
people in the early times. The tirath of Amarnath has been mentioned in the old
chronicles as Amaresbara and is said that Sultan Zain-ul-Abdin the pious ruler of
Kashmir paid a visit to the sacred cave.
Whatever the legends and the history of Amarnathji's discovery, it is today a very
important centre of pilgrimage and though the route is as difficult to negotiate
as it is exciting, every year, thousands of devotees
come to pay homage before Shiva in one of his famous Himalayan abodes.