Odsisha to reopen Jagannath temple Ratna Bhandar during next year’s Rath Yatra

The managing committee of the 12th century Jagannath temple in Puri on Friday said it has recommended the Odisha government to allow the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to reopen and repair the Ratna Bhandar during next year’s ‘Rath Yatra’.

The Puri Ratha Yatra, considered the oldest and largest Hindu chariot festival celebrated annually, takes place on the second day of the Odia month of Ashadha Shukla Tithi (bright fortnight) every year to commemorate the journey of Lord Jagannath

Puri district collector Samarth Verma, who is also a member of the managing committee, said the decision was taken following a letter from ASI to the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) for surveying the Ratna Bhandar, the chamber inside the temple’s sanctum sanctorum that has jewellery, several valuables and precious stones of the deities.

“The ASI had sent a letter to the chief administrator of the SJTA to inspect the Ratna Bhandar. They requested to inspect the Bhandar during Rath Yatra next year. A technical committee will be formed which will include members of the managing committee, some servitors, and members of the ASI,” Verma said.

He added that the ASI will then present the report of the inspection in the next managing committee meeting.

The opening of the Ratna Bhandar comes amid a series of demands, including Puri king Gajapati Dibyasingh Deb, who claimed that the Ratna Bhandar was in bad shape as cracks had developed in its inner wall and rainwater was seeping through those.

“According to laws, the inventory of ornaments kept in the Ratna Bhandar should be updated from time to time. But this has not been done,” he said.

Recently, former state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Samir Mohanty, filed a petition in the Orissa high court demanding the opening of the Ratna Bhandar as “it was necessary to do repair work and make a fresh inventory of ornaments of the deities stored there for decades”.

Early this week, the SJTA in an affidavit filed in Orissa high court said there was approximately 149.47 kg of gold jewellery and 198.79 kg of silver jewellery and utensils in the Ratna Bhandar while stressing that it is not necessary to do a further inventory as the properties/valuables were intact.

The affidavit was in reply to a PIL filed by one Dillip Kumar Mohapatra seeking stock of the properties/valuables inside the chamber.

According to the Jagannath Temple Act, 1955 the Ratna Bhandar needs to be opened for inventory every three years. However, the treasury was last opened and audited from May 13 to July 23, 1978.

In 1985, the treasury was then opened to use gold for the repair of Lord Balabhadra’s ornaments.

On April 4, 2018, the government made an unsuccessful attempt to reopen the Ratna Bhandar for a physical examination of the structure. However, it could not be completed as the keys of the Ratna Bhandar’s inner chamber could not be traced.

Following outrage over the missing keys, chief minister Naveen Patnaik then constituted a judicial commission headed by retired Justice Raghubir Das to probe into the missing keys. The report of the commission has been gathering dust since December 2018.