Guarded by thousands of police and paramilitary soldiers, the pilgrims chanted Hindu hymns as they began the climb to the Amarnath shrine, an icy stalagmite in a mountain cave 4,115 meters (13,500 feet) above sea level. Hindus worship the stalagmite as an incarnation of the Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction and regeneration.

Nearly half a million Hindus are expected to march to the cave over the next two months.

In the past, the pilgrimage has been targeted by militants who have been fighting since 1989 for the independence of Indian-administered Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan.

Muslim rebels and separatist politicians who reject Indian sovereignty in Kashmir accuse Hindu-majority India of using the pilgrimage as a political statement to bolster its claim over the Himalayan region.

Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram accused the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba of instigating recent mob violence against security forces and said it might have been timed to disrupt the Hindu pilgrimage.

Also Thursday, government forces quickly dispersed small groups of protesters who defied the curfew in Srinagar, the region's main city, and chanted "We want freedom" and "Go India, go back," a police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

Authorities imposed an indefinite curfew in parts of Srinagar and other key towns Wednesday as street protests and clashes surged in the region, leaving at least 11 dead over the past three weeks in shootings blamed on police and paramilitary soldiers.

Shops, businesses, schools and government offices have been shut. Authorities have postponed college examinations and blocked text messages on cell phones in an attempt to prevent demonstrators from mobilizing.

On Wednesday, Chidambaram said Lashkar-e-Taiba was active in Sopore, the town worst hit by street protests.

India blames Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attacks that killed 166 people in Mumbai, India's financial capital, in 2008.

The group denies the charge.

While anti-India demonstrations are frequent in the region, the latest street violence erupted after a police probe in June found Indian army soldiers had killed three Kashmiri civilians in a staged gunbattle and then claimed their victims were militants to claim a reward. The army responded by suspending two officers.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan and is claimed by both.

More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the insurgency since 1989.