Jagannath temple Ratna Bhandar opened after 46 years

Puri: After a long wait, the Ratna Bhandar (treasury) of Shree Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri was finally reopened on Sunday afternoon.

According to sources, the Ratna Bhandar of the 12th century shrine was opened at the auspicious time of 1.28 pm after 46 years. It had last been opened in 1978. After the 11-member inspection team entered the temple, the outer chamber of Ratna Bhandar was reportedly opened first. Efforts were then made to open the inner chamber.

Expressing happiness over the development, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said, “Jai Jagannath! With Your blessings, the Ratna Bhandar was opened after 46 years for a noble cause; I strongly believe that the endeavour will be a success.”

In a post on X handle, the Chief Minister said the whole world runs with the wish and desire of Lord Jagannath, the symbol of ‘Odia Asmita and Swabhiman’ (pride).

Before entering the temple, Chief Administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Arabinda Padhee told media that the Ratna Bhandar will only be opened on Sunday and inventorisation work will be taken up later.

Stating that structural safety of the inner Ratna Bhandar is important, he said no counting of ornaments and other valuables will be done after opening the treasury on Sunday.

Only shifting the valuables will be done to the temporary strong room, Padhee said.

Meanwhile, six specially ordered huge ‘Sindooks’ (wooden chest) have been brought to the pilgrim town Sunday for the safe-keeping of the ornaments and other valuables of the Ratna Bhandar in the temporary strong room, sources said.

The temporary strongroom where the valuables of the Ratna Bhandar are to be stored will be put under high-resolution CCTV surveillance, said a senior police official.

Apart from Chairman of the high-level monitoring committee Justice Biswanath Rath and SJTA chief Arabinda Padhee, the 11-member team that went inside the temple included Dr CBK Mohanty, Prabin Parida (representative of Puri Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb), Chhatisa Nijog Mahanayaka (Chief Servitor) Janardan Pattajoshi Mohapatra, Puri district Collector Siddharth Shankar Swain, an Archeological Survey of India (ASI) official, Bhandar Mekap Narayana Mekap, Deula Karana Chandra Sekhar Mangaraj and Tadau Karana Sudhanshu Sekhar.