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Renowned sand artist and member of the Shri Jagannath Temple Management Committee (SJTMC) Sudarsan Patnaik on Friday questioned the delay due to the inaction of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in its request to inspect the inner Ratna Bhandar (treasure house) of the 12th-century mausoleum.
In a letter to Puri’s royal descendant Dibyasinga Deb, who is the chairman of the temple’s administrative committee, Patnik said ASI, the shrine’s guardian, had given a request on August 8, 2022 to inspect the inner chamber of Ratna Bhandar.
“Why is this matter not brought to the management committee through the agenda for discussion, as it is also a matter of safety and security? “It is also a source of concern among devotees of Mahaprabhu,” said Patnik, the Padma Shri laureate.
Patnik, a Puri native who was nominated for SJTMC in August 2021, said the management committee should request the state government to open the inner ratna bhandar of Shri Jagannath Temple.
“There are concerns among devotees about the safety of the Ratna Bhandara temple in Jagannath. ASI has also given a request to examine the treasure. If there is any structural integrity issue, ASI can fix it after examination. I have asked the managing committee chairman to take up the issue in the committee meeting through the agenda,” Patnaik said. Indian Express.
The royal descendant of Puri, during his recent interviews with a section of local TV channels in Odisha, stressed the urgent repair of the treasure house.
The 12th-century tomb of Ratna Bhandar has an outer and an inner chamber. Although the outer chamber is regularly opened to bring in trinkets to the sibling deities during Sona Pesha (golden attire)—a major ritual during the annual Rath Yatra and other events—the inner chamber of the Treasure House has not been opened for years.
According to reports, the last inventory of Ratna Bhandar containing precious jewels was made between 13 May and 23 July in 1978. Although it was opened again on 14 July 1985, no new inventory was made.
Although an attempt was made to open the inner chamber for examination by the ASI Panel of Experts on April 4, 2018 following a directive from the Supreme Court, the attempt was unsuccessful due to the lack of keys. It was inspected from the outside.
There are demands from various departments, including the temple servants and devotees, to open the Ratna Bhandar temple.
Last month, BJP leader and former head of the party’s state unit, Sameer Mohanti, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Orissa High Court seeking to open Ratna Bhandar.
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