Indian Hindu devotees leave Chandanwari,

Indian Hindu devotees leave Chandanwari, 115 kilometers southeast of Srinagar, during the annual Hindu pilgrimage towards the holy cave shrine of Amarnath on June 18, 2008. A three-tier security arrangement with the deployment of more than 6,000 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel has been put in place for the pilgrimage. Every year, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims trek through treacherous mountains in revolt-torn Kashmir, along icy streams, glacier-fed lakes and frozen passes, to reach the Amarnath cave, located at an altitude of (12,729 feet), where a Shiva Lingam, an ice stalagmite shaped as a fallus and symbolising the Hindu God Shiva, stands for worship. AFP PHOTO/Tauseef MUSTAFA (Photo credit should read TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP via Getty Images)