Case file · Sacred site
The ice lingam of Amarnath
Tradition says a Muslim shepherd, Buta Malik, rediscovered the Amarnath cave in Kashmir around 1850; its ice stalagmite, worshipped as Shiva's lingam, waxes and wanes with the seasons.
1850 CE · 34.21, 75.50 · status: legend
The sceptical view
The stalagmite forms from freezing seepage water; in warm years it has melted early, which devotees take as an omen.