Amidst the chants ” Har Har Maha Dev” and “Amarnath Swami Ki Jai “, the holy mace ” Chari Mubarak ” left for Holy Amarnath cave from Akhara building Srinagar early this morning . Scores of sadhus and other devotees accompanied the holy mace under the leadership of mahant Dipender Giri , the custodian of holy mace . This marks the traditional commencement of annual amarnath pilgrimage . Before leaving , a special pooja was held at Akhara temple. The holy mace will be taken to Martand temple and then to phalagam . after the stay for a couple of days at pahalgam , the holy mace will proceed towards holy cave on Shravan Purnimashi which falls on 29th August, Rakhsha Bandan . The holy maçe and the devotees accompanying it will have night stays at chandan wari , Sheshnag and panchtarni before reaching the Holy cave . Notably about 4 lakh pilgrims have already paid obeisance at the holy cave this year .