Amarnath board offers online puja services to devotees who couldn’t make it to cave shrine this year

Devotees who could not undertake the Amarnath Yatra this year can book virtual puja, ‘hawan’ and ‘prasad’ online for a personalised experience, officials said on Saturday.

Puja and ‘hawan’ will be conducted by priests in a devotee’s name and he or she can take part in them online. ‘Prasad’ will be delivered at their doorsteps, they said.

The online services can be booked through the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) website, http://www.shriamarnathjishrine.com, or through its mobile application which can be downloaded from the Google Play Store, the officials said.

“Maximising the use of available technology and digitisation, the devotees would be let in a virtual online room through Jio meet application wherein they can have a special virtual pooja and darshan of Lord Shiva,” SASB CEO Nitishwar Kumar said.

Once the booking is done, the SASB will share the link, date and time on the devotee’s registered mobile number or e-mail id, he said.

The board has made an arrangement with the postal department for dispatching ‘prasad’ within 48 hours, he added.

Devotees will have to pay Rs 1,100 for virtual puja, Rs 1,100 for ‘prasad’ booking (with 5 gm silver coin of Shri Amarnathji), Rs 2,100 for ‘prasad’ booking (with 10 gm silver coin) and Rs 5,100 for the special ‘hawan’ or a combination of any of the above.

The virtual puja or ‘hawan’ would be carried out by the ‘pujaris’ at the cave shrine by pronouncing the name and ‘gotra’ of the devotee along with chants of mantras and shlokas, the officials said.