Srinagar, July 03 : The annual Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra commenced on Friday, with the first batches of pilgrims leaving the twin base camps at Baltal and Nunwan (Pahalgam) for the holy cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas, while the second batch of 3,865 pilgrims departed from Jammu for Kashmir under elaborate security arrangements. Officials told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), that the pilgrimage began in the early hours from both the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route and the shorter 14-km Baltal route despite intermittent rainfall. They said pilgrims, including men, women and sadhus, started their journey towards the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine amid chants of “Bum Bum Bhole” after being flagged off by the respective Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendents of Police from the two base camps.