RAMBAN/JAMMU, May 4 -- Undeterred by high temperatures and difficult terrain, four youths from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have been on an extraordinary, over nine-month-long journey to the revered Amarnath Shrine, performing 'dandavat pranam'- a rigorous religious practice involving full-body prostrations - to spread "a message of Sanatan Dharma" and "communal harmony".
Traversing the winding stretches of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Ramban district, the young pilgrims have been advancing entirely through full-body prostrations - a form of pilgrimage where devotees move forward by repeatedly lying flat on the ground - as they make their way towards the cave shrine housing the naturally formed ice lingam of Lord Shiva at an ...