Their souls may have been cleansed, but record numbers of pilgrims trekking this year to one of Hinduism's holiest shrines in the Himalayas of India Kashmir have left unprecedented amounts of earthly trash in their wake.
In the aftermath of the annual 45-day pilgrimage to Amarnath cave, environmentalists are dealing with an ecological crisis and say the government has never done enough to make sure pilgrims leave as little evidence of their progress as possible.
"The government has never been serious in preventing littering of plastic, polythene and refuse along the pilgrimage track," said Zulfikar Ahmed, a Kashmiri ecological activist.
A record 300,000 Hindus made the physically gruelling pilgrimage this year through the Himalayas to the 3,800 meter (12,800 feet) high Amarnath cave, considered an abode of the god Shiva.
But while the authorities were patting themselves on the back for ensuring the safety of the tens of thousands who engaged in the arduous climb - for the second year in a row the procession remained free of attacks by Muslim rebels - environmentalists were sounding the alarm.
"The waste has been piling up for years now, causing irreparable damage to the environment," Ahmed said.
Leftover food, plastic bags and bottles, damaged footwear, tin boxes and assorted debris lies scattered along the Himalayan pilgrimage routes and in mounds around the camps where pilgrims were housed until the trek officially ended on Monday.
The majority of the pilgrims set out from Nunwun base camp, near Pahalgam health resort, on the 50-kilometer (31 mile) trek along snow-fed streams and through frozen mountain passes to worship an ice stalagmite they believe represents Shiva.
Other pilgrims opted for a shorter 16-kilometer trek from north-eastern Baltal set higher in the mountains near the shrine. Both routes have been equally trashed.
While some non-governmental organisations have in the past attempted to remove some of the garbage, lack of funds and of support from the government has seen them giving up the struggle.
"There is no system to clean up the tracks and the camps once the pilgrimage is over," said an official from Kashmir's Pollution Control Board, who asked not to be named. He said pilgrims litter the route to the cave with around 12,000 kilograms (26,400 pounds) of non-degradable matter every year.
"This year the quantity will be higher given the record rush," he said. Environmentalists say the cave area is also under tremendous pressure.
"Tonnes of waste are spread all over near the cave and much more sees its way into mountain rivulets, polluting the waters," said Syed Ishrat, who heads private environmental group Global Green Peace.
The Sindh river that passes through the foothills of Baltal is the main source of water to nearly a million residents of the summer capital Srinagar.
"Pollution of the hills around Baltal can cause problems for Srinagar residents," said Ishrat, urging the government to take steps to clear away the refuse.
The state-run Pahalgam Development Authority (PDA) has appealed to voluntary organisations to help it collect non-degradable garbage for proper disposal.
"Should the problem not be addressed right now, it will have an adverse impact on the entire eco-system of Pahalgam," said Latief Deva, who heads the authority.
Aside from the problems of garbage, sanitary conditions along the trek are woefully inadequate to cope with the annual rush of pilgrims, security forces and civil officials. With no proper disposal, human waste it finding its way into the rivulets, the environmentalists warn.